Charmed: Alternate Season Five
by Nerf
Summary: Did you ever wish Phoebe and Cole had stayed together? Or maybe that Paige had kept her job? Well read about those and many other changes in this alternate season five of Charmed. Read, review, and enjoy.
1. Episode One: Starting Over

**_Season Five Premiere: Starting Over_**

Leo, are you sure this is going to work? Piper came into the foyer from the dining room holding a blue print.

What do you mean? Leo stood on the landing of the staircase in front of the window that was there. The glass had been taken out and Leo was making measurements to change the window to a door.

Well adding on to the house for the nursery? Don't you think that's a little much? Why can't we just use our closet? That should be big enough.

Leo stopped measuring and shook his head. No, I don't think so. It's a little too cramped and there wouldn't be any window to bring in light.We could make a window. That would be a lot easier than building a whole nother room.And where would all our clothes go? Or your shoes? Leo asked with a smile. You have a lot of shoes that need to go somewhere.

Piper rolled her eyes. I am sure we could find some place for them.Or you could get rid of some...Get rid of my shoes? Leo, are you crazy!

Leo sighed and came down the stairs to stand in front of Piper. You're the one who is acting crazy. Now can you please tell me the real reason you don't want this room added?

Piper bit her lip and gave in. I just don't think you could build this on your own.No, I don't think so either. I was going to call a construction crew to help me out.And right there is the problem.

Leo frowned. 

There was a sudden explosion from upstairs and a scream followed right after it. Piper glanced at Leo and then ran up the stairs, Leo right on her heels. They reached the attic to find Phoebe battling a demon. The young witch spun and kicked the creature in the chest, slamming him back against the wall. The demon snarled and went to lurch at Phoebe when Piper brought up her hands and the demon exploded in a bright flash of fire.

Phoebe said breathlessly, wiping her forehead. Thanks for the save, Piper.Are you okay? Piper said, making her way over to her sister.

Phoebe nodded. Yeah, I'm fine. Piper yelled, spinning around to face her husband. This is the problem I was talking about.What problem? Leo questioned.

Demons, of course, Piper said with a duh' expression. We can't have a construction crew around here for god knows how long it will take to build that room when demons are attacking all the time. We could get exposed. Or worse, one of them could get killed.I... I hadn't thought of that, Leo stuttered.

Well maybe you should. Piper turned back to her sister. Now for our next problem. What happened up here?I, uh... did a summoning spell, Phoebe muttered, looking down at the floor.

You summoned that demon! Is everyone in this house going crazy!I summoned him because I was trying to find Cole. I haven't seen him since he saved me from that witch hunter. I thought that maybe a demon would have an idea of where he was. Phoebe motioned to an incomplete crystal circle across the room. I was going to trap him in that, but he was too fast and attacked before I could. I didn't even get to ask him anything.You're trying to find Cole? Why? He's evil, Phoebe.

Phoebe shook her head. I'm not so sure. The Source possessed him before. And Cole was still in there. Otherwise he would have killed us all.He almost did! Piper yelled. And then he comes back from that Wasteland, which no one has ever escaped from, and he now has even more powers than he had when he was the Source. He can't be trusted.But I still love him, Phoebe whispered, her voice cracking. Tears were starting to drip down her face. The pain after we vanquished him was so unbearable. And then I found out he wasn't really dead. That he was trapped. And now he's back and I want so much to be with him again.

Piper took her sister in a hug and tried to calm her down. I know you do. But you have to understand that he could be dangerous. And that we may have to vanquish him.

Phoebe pulled back from Piper's embrace, shaking her head. If we had to do that... I don't think I would be able to live. She walked past Piper and Leo and went out the door as Piper gave a great sigh and stared down at the floor.

---

Evaluations are this week. And I know you are all hoping to be promoted to social worker. Mr. Cowen, Paige's boss, paced in front of Paige herself and two others. I will be looking at your progress since you came here and after a few days I will make my decision on which one of you will be promoted. Good luck to all three of you. Now I suggest you get back to work.

The three coworkers glanced at one another as Mr. Cowen went back to his office. They then muttered a good luck to each other and made their way back to their cubicles. Paige let out a sigh as she sat down in front of her computer. This was it. She hoped and prayed that she would be the one to get the job.

Paige had once been offered this job before, but she had turned it down since she believed the other person up for the job was the better choice. But now she wasn't pulling any punches. Paige wanted that job and she was determined to get it.

I know I'm qualified, Paige said to herself, picking up the phone. But a little sucking up never hurt. She dialed and waited for the phone to be answered. Hey, Dominoes? I would like to order a large cheese pizza with anchovies. Paige despised anchovies, but she knew they were Mr. Cowen's favorite topping. She also ordered some drinks and then wrote down the price on a notepad. Thanks so much. Bye. After hanging up the phone, Paige got up and went over to her boss's office. She knocked and then opened the door. Hey, Mr. Cowen.Paige. What can I do for you?Well I just ordered a pizza and wondered if you would want any when it gets here. It's got anchovies on it.Really? Hmm, I don't think I would mind that. I haven't eaten lunch yet so this would be perfect. Thanks Paige.You betcha! I'll tell you when it gets here. Paige then closed the door and went back to her desk with a smile on her face. This one is in the bag.

---

It was windy that day, even though there was plenty of sun, so great waves were pushing up against the shore. Phoebe sat on the beach, far enough away from the water so she wouldn't get wet. Her face was full of sadness and a few tears dripped down her face as she stared out at the ocean.

Phoebe felt torn. Part of her really wanted Cole to come back so they could be together. But the other part of her was telling her that Piper could be right. Phoebe and Cole's relationship had always been a hard one. Evil and its corruptive power had been the biggest problem.

Phoebe had thought that it would be so much better after Belthazor had been vanquished. And it was... but not for long. For the Source had possessed Cole and driven him to do many evils. Then Phoebe and her sisters had been forced to vanquish her love and it had been heartbreaking. And now there was a chance for them to be together again, but Phoebe didn't know if she could take it anymore. Evil had invaded their love so many times and now, with Cole having so many demonic powers, it could happen again.

Phoebe wiped her eyes and got to her feet. She gave one last look out to the ocean. Where are you, Cole? she whispered. Phoebe then turned away and walked back to the beach parking lot.

A few minutes after she had left a strong breeze blew in and a huge wave crashed against the shore. As it receded a chest was suddenly revealed, it being washed up onto the beach. It was old and parts of it had started to rot away, but it was still intact.

Mommy, what's that? a little girl asked, pointing. She and her parents moved towards the chest and the father lifted it up and brought it away from the water.

The latch is rusted, so it should be easy to open, the father said. And with little effort he broke the latch and opened the chest up. Inside there seemed to be nothing but scrolls. Yet they were all soaked and none of the writing was legible.

The family was about to leave it there and move on when the girl noticed a small glitter in the bottom of the chest. She reached in a pull out a shining blue jewel that was about as large as her hand. Oh, pretty, she exclaimed.

The mother glanced at her husband. Do you think it's valuable?I don't know, the father said with a shake of his head. But we might as well take it home.

He reached for it, but his daughter pulled back. I want to hold it!Okay, but you have to be careful. We don't want to lose it. The girl nodded and held on to the jewel tightly as the family made their way back to their car.

---

Okay. Thanks Ray. Piper hung up and then set the cordless phone down on the counter, going back to the lunch she had been making when the phone had rung. Ray said that the band just called and confirmed. They'll be in tomorrow to set up and do a sound check.Sounds good, Leo said. So is lunch almost ready? I want to eat and then get back to working on the new room.Are you still going to bring in a crew?Pretty soon, yeah.

Piper sighed and stopped what she was doing. What if a demon attacks?We've had people over at the house before and everything has been fine.But not for a very long amount of time, Piper argued. And these workers will be over here a lot and it could be very dangerous.We'll be able to handle it, Leo said calmly. Don't worry.It's my job to worry and I am damn good at it.

Leo smiled. Okay. Well can I have that lunch to go? I actually have to pick up some things at the hardware store.Yeah, here. Piper wrapped up the sandwich she had made for Leo in some plastic wrap and the distributed it in a paper bag.

Leo took it and gave Piper a kiss. I'll be back soon, he said, and then left out the back door.

Piper heaved another sigh and then looked down at her own sandwich. She decided she wasn't that hungry and put it in the fridge. Piper then left the kitchen and headed for the stairs. When she reached the foyer there was a sudden flash of light and Cole appeared. Piper said.

Hey Piper, Cole said politely. Is Phoebe around?

Piper suddenly brought up her hands and released her power. There was an explosion against Cole's chest and the blast knocked him to the floor. Get out of here, Piper whispered, but was loud enough so he could hear her.

Well that wasn't the welcome I was expecting, Cole said, rising to his feet. Well, actually, from you, maybe. But I was hoping to find Phoebe first.She's not here. Now get out.Gladly. Once you tell me where she is. I really need to talk to her. Piper said, menace rising in her voice, You stay away from my sister.

Cole gave a small shrug. I can't. I love her, Piper. And I know she loves me.No, she doesn't, Piper lied. Now you stay away from her and you stay away from the rest of my family. If you ever set foot in this house again I will vanquish you.

Cole stared at Piper for a moment. I don't believe that Phoebe said she doesn't love me. We have too much of a past for that to just suddenly go away. And I guess I will just have to find her and talk to her myself. Cole then disappeared the same way he had come.

Piper let out a breath and ran her hands through her hair. She meant her threat; she just didn't know if she had enough power to carry it out.

---

Phoebe sat in her office at The Bay Mirror, staring at her blank computer screen. A small tv sat on the desk as well, its station set to the news, but was muted. Phoebe just couldn't think of what to write. She just felt lost. If she couldn't get her own life to work then how was she supposed to help others get their lives to work?

She glanced at the tv as a new story came on. Turning up the volume the announcers voice came in. Earlier today a family found a washed up chest on the beach. Inside they found a blue jewel. The family, the Bordecks, say that they are going to have the jewel appraised tomorrow to find out how much it is worth. In other--

Phoebe suddenly shuddered and she felt the beginnings of a premonition. Closing her eyes, Phoebe allowed the images to flow. A small suburban house was the first thing she saw, the focus being its address. Then her view suddenly shot through the door and into the house, going through several rooms before finally stopping in what looked like a study.

A clock chimed on the mantle of a fireplace and the loud hooting of an owl could be heard coming from outside the window. The air in the room suddenly shimmered in several places and five disgusting creatures appeared. Most of them were bald and they were all short. Their clothes looked medieval and swords hung from their belts. The creatures had sharp claws and pointed ears and their skin was rough and bumpy. Together they began to tear the room apart until one of them finally found what they were looking for; a shining jewel.

Phoebe let out a breath as she was ripped from her vision. The trigger had obviously been that story that had just been on the news. Phoebe didn't know what was so special about that jewel, but she did know that she had to stop those creatures from getting it. The clock in the study had chimed eight times and it was dark so it had obviously been nighttime. And since Phoebe's premonitions were never that far into the future she assumed that the events would play out that night. Guess I won't be getting any work done today, she said, turning off her computer and then the television. As Phoebe got up to leave she pulled out her cell phone to call Paige.

---

Paige opened the pizza box after the delivery guy had left. she whispered, eyeing the anchovies. Why didn't I just get half and half? Glancing around to make sure no one was looking, Paige waved her hand over half of the pizza and whispered, The tiny little fishes orbed out in a twinkle of lights. Paige motioned her hand to the other half of the pizza and the anchovies orbed back in. There. Now it's half and half. And Mr. Cowen will just think I got extra.Oh, I see the pizza's here. Mr. Cowen came up next to Paige and sniffed in. Mmm, I love that smell. Oh, and you got extra anchovies on one half? Thanks, Paige.

Paige smiled and shrugged. I just knew they were your favorite. Go ahead, take as much as you want. Paige handed him a paper plate she had gotten from the break room and Mr. Cowen loaded it up with pizza. Paige was about to take some for herself when her phone rang. Paige Matthews speaking. How may I help you?Paige, hi. It's Phoebe.Oh hey Phoebe. What's up?I just had a premonition with some freaky things stealing this jewel. I need you to meet me at home so we can check the Book of Shadows for these guys before tonight.Phoebe, I can't. Evaluations have started. I'm up for promotion. I just can't up and leave.Please Paige. These things looked pretty dangerous. We're going to need your help.Fine. I'll meet you at home. Paige hung up and turned to Mr. Cowen who had already eaten two pieces of pizza. I'm sorry, Mr. Cowen. There is an emergency at home and I really need to go.All right, Mr. Cowen said between bites. I hope everything is okay. But make sure you are here on time tomorrow morning.I will be. Thank you sir, Paige said, gathering up her things.

And thank you for the pizza! Mr. Cowen yelled as Paige left.

---

Down in one of the thousands of caverns of the Underworld resided the creatures that Phoebe had seen in her vision. There were about twenty of them, all growling and fighting amongst one another. The leader stood in front of a large mirror. A wavery image of a demon was in the mirror, speaking to the leader of the creatures.

The cloning jewel has been found. I want you to get it. With it you can make an army big enough to attack the gate that seals me in this otherworldly prison. You should be strong enough to take the gate and then set myself and my siblings free.

The creature bowed. Yes sir. Don't worry, I we won't fail. I will send five of my best warriors to retrieve this jewel. It shouldn't be a problem.It better not be. I am growing impatient after being trapped here for so long. For hundreds of years my siblings and I have been stuck is this prison world. And now the opportunity to break us free has come. You better not fail. Because if you do... then when I do get out I will make sure you die a very painful death.

The creature bowed again. Yes sir.They are called Goblins, Phoebe said, reading from the entry in the Book of Shadows. Creatures that are ruthless warriors who crave blood. They mostly travel in tribes which fight one another to gain rank. These creatures are dangerous and should be approached with caution. Piper muttered from where she sat on the dusty old couch of the attic. First Cole shows up and now goblins.

Phoebe's head shot up. Cole was here?Um... Maybe?Piper, why didn't you tell me!

Piper had been staring down at her feet, but now looked up defiantly. Truthfully? I didn't want you to know. I don't think you should be with him.That's not your decision.Phoebe, you don't even know if you want to be with him.It's still not your decision. Yes, I am confused and scared. But I still want to talk to him so I don't have to be those things anymore. I can make my own choice.Phoebe, he is dangerous! Piper yelled, getting up.

I kind of agree with Piper here, Paige said. Cole's evil.No he's not. He has helped us, saved us, so many times.And he has also tried to kill us several times, Piper said. He can't be trusted, especially with all those demonic powers he has now. And if we let him back into our lives and he betrayed us then I don't know if we would be able to stop him. When he was Belthazor we could vanquish him with a potion. Even when he was the Source of All Evil we had that spell to stop him. But now? There might not be a vanquish.He wouldn't betray me. I know it. He wanted me to strip his powers when he was Belthazor. And he became the Source against his own will. And that only happened because he was trying to save me when the Source attacked with the Hollow.

Piper rolled her eyes. I still don't think we can trust him.Well I do. Phoebe sighed and turned back to the Book. There is a vanquishing potion here. We should get started on it. Piper started.

But Phoebe shook her head. I don't want to talk about it. Now let's go make this potion. Phoebe then picked up the Book and made her way towards the stairs. Paige glanced at Piper and then followed Phoebe. Piper shook her head and then followed as well.

---

At just about eight that night the three sisters snuck quietly up to the front of the house that the Bordecks lived in. They had parked Piper's jeep a few blocks down the road. Now the sisters were crouching in front of one of the house's front windows, peeking inside. They looked in at all three family members sitting in the living room; the daughter was playing with a doll and the parents were reading the newspaper.

Piper whispered. I'm going to have to freeze them so they don't hear us when we are in there. But I can't freeze them through the window. Paige, can you orb the lock off so we can open the window? Paige whispered back. She held out her hand and called for the window lock, it orbing to her hand after just a moment.

Piper opened the window just a little bit and flicked her hands at the family, freezing them. She then closed the window and Paige orbed the lock back on. Good work. Now we have to get in there, vanquish these guys, and get out. The Bordecks won't stay frozen for long.

There was a sudden loud hooting of an owl. Oh no! Phoebe hissed. I heard the owl in my vision right before the goblins arrived. We have to get in there now! Paige took her sisters' hands and orbed them all into the houses study. The goblins were already there.

Piper said, making the five creatures turn to face her. Didn't your mother ever teach you that stealing is wrong? The goblins snarled and started to advance on Piper and her sisters. Guess not. Piper shot out her hands and one of the goblins exploded.

Phoebe took on the next one. The goblin hit her across the face and then went to hit her again with its other arm. Phoebe blocked the punch and then threw one of her one. The goblin stumbled and Phoebe then kicked him, sending the goblin crashing into the wall. She pulled out a vanquishing potion from her pocket and threw it on the goblin, who wailed as he went up in flames.

Two of the goblins were attacking Paige; one in front of her and one behind. The one in front pulled out his sword and began swinging it menacingly. Paige yelled, holding out her hand. The sword orbed from the goblin's grasp to her own and she promptly stuck it into the goblin's gut, vanquishing him. Paige then swung around and sliced off the head of the other goblin, destroying him as well.

The last one lurched at Piper and slashed at her left arm with his sword. Piper jumped back, but the blade still nicked her arm, drawing a line of blood. Piper glared and shot out her right hand, the goblin dying in a burst of fire. She looked down at her arm and it suddenly healed itself.

What the? How did you do that? Paige asked.

Piper shook her head. I don't think it was me. I think it was the baby.Looks like she takes after her daddy, Phoebe said with a smile.

Well we better get out of here, Paige said.

Phoebe said, going over to the desk of the study. She opened a drawer and pulled out a blue jewel. We should take this so more goblins don't come back for it. And maybe we can figure out why they want it so much. She then took her sisters' hands and Paige orbed them back to the jeep.

---

The next morning the sisters and Leo sat around the kitchen table with the blue jewel in the center.

It's very pretty, Phoebe said, eyeing it.

Piper said, But I don't think that the goblins want it for accessorizing.What do you think, Leo? Paige asked.

Leo shrugged. I don't know. Goblins are kind of like pirates. Maybe they want it just to have it. It sure does look valuable. Phoebe said. But I think you should go check with the Elders. See what they think about it.

Piper rolled her eyes. The Elders? Since when are they any help? The best they can do is say that it is interesting' and that we should research it further'.Hormones getting to you? Paige asked.

Piper shook her head. No, this is how I always feel about them. But, anyways, Phoebe's right. You should go talk to them, Leo.

Leo nodded and got up. The construction crew will be here a little later. I told them what we were doing so if I'm not back when they get here all you have to do is show them where to go.Wait, what? I thought I said I didn't want them here.Leo we have some jewel here that goblins are after. I don't think this is the best time to have a construction team over here!I'm sure we can handle it, Leo said, giving Piper a quick kiss and then orbing out.

Piper sighed. If he weren't already dead I would kill him.That's nice, Phoebe said, getting up.

Where are you going? Piper asked.

Work, of course.

Paige stood up as well. I have to get going too. I promised Mr. Cowen that I would be there on time today. And if I want that promotion I have to get going.Fine, go. Leave me here to watch over this jewel, Piper said.

You're a saint. Bye! Phoebe then left with Paige close behind her.

Yeah, yeah, Piper muttered to herself, looking down at the blue jewel.

---

You failed to attain the jewel? the figure in the mirror hissed. What did I say would happen if you failed?

The leader of the goblins was on his knees, pleading. Please, sir, no. We tried. I sent five of my best warriors to get it. And I even put a scout right outside the window to the room that the jewel was in. He saw the whole thing, sir. Witches arrived and killed my warriors. The scout says that they were very powerful.Witches? How did they know about this?

The leader shook his head. I don't know. But don't worry, sir. We will get the jewel from them. I will find out where they live and I will send more warriors; stronger ones. They won't stand a chance. We will have the jewel by the end of the day.You better.

---

Phoebe sat in the same position as the day before; staring at her blank computer, wondering what to type. She was brought out of her stupor by a knock on the door. Come in! she called.

The door opened and in walked Cole. Phoebe... hi.Cole. You came back.

Cole nodded. I looked for you at your house yesterday, but ran into some... problems.

Phoebe nodded. Yeah, I heard. She wanted to jump up and run into his arms, but she found she couldn't. Part of her was holding her back. Do you want to sit down?What I really want to do is just hold you in my arms and kiss you.

Phoebe looked down at the floor. I don't know if I can do that just yet.Why not?

Phoebe sighed. It's complicated. I'm just kind of confused about what to do.Phoebe you know that wasn't me as the Source. And that I was the only thing stopping him from killing you.I know. But now you have all these other powers. Demonic powers that could corrupt you.I needed them, Phoebe. I needed them to get out of the Wasteland. And for the past couple weeks I have been looking for a way to get rid of them. But I can't.What about a power stripping potion?

Cole shook his head. That won't work this time. I just have too many that the potion wouldn't make them go away. I mean they would come out... but they would have to go somewhere; into someone. And we can't let them get into the wrong hands, Phoebe. I can control them.

Phoebe looked up at Cole. Can you?Yes. I can use them for good. Phoebe, with these powers we could stop all sorts of evils. If the Source was alive I don't even know if he would stand a chance.But these powers are evil, Phoebe said.

But I'm not, Cole shot back. Phoebe, I had to get out of that Wasteland so I could be with you. I love you, Phoebe.And I love you too. But... I'm just not sure if I can handle this kind of thing anymore. The potential risk of you turning evil again. It's just too much. And right now I am just too confused to sort anything out.

Cole stared at her for a long moment. I don't want to give up on us. But until you're ready? I'll leave you alone. Cole then turned and left Phoebe's office, closing the door behind him.

Phoebe let out a long sigh and put her face in her hands, wondering what to do next.

---

Ding dong!

Piper threw open the front door to find a team of construction men standing there, all carrying pieces of equipment. Oh. Hi. one of them said. Leo called us.

Piper nodded. Yeah, I know. Come on in. She showed the men in and then led them over to the stairs. Okay, right where that window is we want to make a door. And then add on to the house there.Yeah, Leo told us all about it. We'll just get to work. You won't have to worry about a thing. Piper muttered. She then turned and went back to the kitchen as the phone rang. Hello? Oh, hi Ray. ... Oh, the band! Crap, I totally forgot. Piper glanced out to where the construction workers had started to make some noise. Um, I don't know if I can make it. See, we are adding onto our house and there are construction workers here. Piper sat down at the table and started to play with the blue jewel absentmindedly.

Well can't someone else stay there to watch them?No, Leo isn't here and Phoebe and Paige are at work. God, I just wish there were two of me. The jewel suddenly glowed brightly and with a flash there was another Piper sitting right next to the first.

They turned to one another, mouths hanging open. Oh no, they said simultaneously.

The one with the phone said, Uh, I can't make it Ray. Sorry. She then hung up. What the hell just happened! she asked her twin.

You're asking me? How should I know?

The first Piper glanced down at the jewel in her hand. The jewel. This must be its power!

At that moment Leo orbed in. The Elders say that this jewel has the power to create a clone of the person holding it.

Both Piper's looked up at Leo. Ya think? they said at the same time.

Leo's mouth dropped open. Oh no.

---

Paige grabbed up her phone as it rang. Paige, it's Piper. You have to come home. Now.

Paige frowned. What? Why? Have the... She glanced around to make sure no one was listening. Have the goblins attacked?No. But we have other problems. That blue jewel? It has the power to clone the holder of it when they will it to. And now I have a clone.Whoa, seriously?Why would I joke about this?You wouldn't. Okay, but Piper I can't come home. I have to stay here and work as hard as I can. I really want that promotion.You can call Phoebe. She's a witch too. Plus if there are now two of you then you shouldn't have to worry if the goblins attack. Paige said, If she is your clone she should have your powers. Meaning that with both of you being able to freeze things and blow them up then an attack shouldn't be a problem.I guess...Great. Call me if anything else happens. Bye. Paige hung up and then got back to work.

---

Piper came back into the kitchen where Leo and the other Piper sat. Did you get a hold of Paige? Leo asked.

Yes, but she can't come. So I called Phoebe, who is on her way. the other Piper said. Now what?Leo, I think you should go talk to the Elders. Maybe they know of some way to reverse this. Leo nodded and orbed out. I'm going to go check the Book of Shadows to see if it has anything that can help us. You stay here and watch the jewel.Are we always this bossy?

Piper glared. Just do it. She then turned and left the kitchen.

The Piper clone sighed and stood up to get something to eat from the fridge. As she did a goblin suddenly shimmered into the kitchen near the back door. He pulled out his sword and threw it at the clone, who screamed and waved her hands, freezing the sword. She then grabbed it out of the air just as two more goblins shimmered in behind her, unnoticed.

You're not getting the jewel, she said to the goblin near the door. She then raised her hand to blow him up when one of the goblins behind her stabbed her in the back, the sword going all the way through to protrude from her chest. The goblin pulled the sword out and the Piper clone dropped to the floor, blood oozing out of her body.

Get the jewel, the third goblin said.

The first nodded and grabbed up the jewel from the kitchen table. All three then shimmered out of the kitchen.

Out in the foyer the real Piper came running down the stairs, jumping over equipment. Some of the construction workers were heading towards the kitchen, obviously having heard the scream that had come from there. Wait, don't go in there!Why not? We heard someone scream. Piper quickly thought up an excuse, since the workers didn't know her sisters weren't there. My sister Paige is painting in there. She loves to paint. I think she just must have spilled some. You guys just keep working. The workers shrugged and Piper ran to the kitchen. Oh god, she said, seeing her clone's body lying on the floor. She glanced at the table and saw the jewel was gone and then knelt down next to her clone, feeling for a pulse.

Leo orbed in just then. What happened?I don't know! I was upstairs. The goblins must have attacked. They got the jewel. Quick, she said, motioning to her clone. Heal her.

Leo leaned down to do so, but stopped after a minute. She's gone.But how? When I was cut last night the baby healed me. Why didn't the baby heal her?I don't think she was pregnant, Leo said.

What? But she's my clone.Yes. Your clone. You willed the jewel to create a clone of you. But not a clone of the baby. So this clone wasn't pregnant, meaning there was no baby to heal her.

Piper sighed. Well what do we do now? And... what about her body? Someone is going to notice it.I think it will disappear once we reverse the effects of the jewel.And how do we do that?We have to destroy it.Great. And it's currently in the hands of a bunch of goblins. Just great.

---

About twenty minutes later Phoebe came through the front door. She passed the stairs where there was a tarp over the unfinished doorway. Leo and Piper came out from the kitchen to meet her. Phoebe said. Where are the construction workers? Piper said. I sent them home.And your clone?She's gone as well. Phoebe said. That didn't last long.Well she didn't have a baby to heal her.

Piper shook her head. Never mind. The thing is we have a dead clone in the kitchen and the goblins have the jewel.Oh no. Well how will we find them to get it back? Phoebe asked.

With this, Leo said, holding up the sword that had been left from the first goblin. We can use it to scry for their lair.And then once we get there we will vanquish all their asses, Piper added.

But how? They stole this jewel to clone themselves, right? So they are probably using it to make a whole bunch of goblin clones. I don't think we can make enough potions to vanquish all of them.I think I have a plan, Piper said. But for it we will need Paige. I'm going to go call her. And she is not going to get out of it this time.We have it, the leader of the goblins said, holding up the blue jewel to show to the figure in the mirror. We took it from the witches. And killed one of them in the process.Good. Now use it to make enough clones so you can attack the gate and free myself and my siblings from our prison.Yes sir. The leader was about to use the jewel when there was a flurry of blue lights near the entrance to the cavern and Paige orbed in with her sisters. The figure in the mirror saw them arrive and his image disappeared, making the mirror look normal.

We'll be taking that from you now, Piper said.

The leader growled. I don't think so. Attack! he yelled to his warriors.

The goblins rushed at the sisters. Piper blew one up and Phoebe and Paige each threw a potion. They goblins were now down to twelve. Piper said. Paige yelled, holding out her hand. The jewel orbed from the lead goblin's grasp, making him stare at his hands in confusion. It then orbed in to Paige's hand a moment later.

Paige handed the jewel to Piper who said. I want there to be two of me. The jewel glowed and a clone of Piper appeared. You have all my memories up to now, right? The clone nodded. So you know the plan? Another nod. Good. It's spell time.

All four of them then took each other's hands and began to say a spell. The Power of Four evens the score to vanquish you all forever more! The goblins all cried out as flames spread over their bodies. Then, simultaneously, they all exploded.

Piper turned to her clone and smiled. Thanks for the help. But you know what we have to do now.

The clone nodded. I know.

Piper set the jewel on the ground and then shot out her hand, blowing it up. Instantly the clone disappeared in a flash of blue light. Good. That means that the clone at the house should be gone as well.Maybe we should have kept the jewel, Phoebe said. We could have created clones of all of us and then no demons would be able to stop us.And then we would never know which one of us was which and there would be a big bathroom issue. Remember when Prue had two clones of herself? It was band enough with just them.

Phoebe nodded. Yeah, that's a good point. Never mind then. Paige said. Now that we are done here let's get home so I can get back to work. She then took her sisters' hands and orbed them out of there.

Over in the mirror the figure reappeared. His eyes glowed an evil scarlet. was all he said. 

---

The next day Paige was sitting at her desk when Mr. Cowen called her into his office. Paige entered and sat down. Yes, Mr. Cowen?I have finished doing my reviews of your work and the other twos' work. And I have made my decision of who I want to be social worker. Mr. Cowen then just sat there, staring at her.

... And? Paige prodded.

And I have chosen you. Congratulations, Paige.Really? You're serious?When am I not?

Paige smiled and jumped up, running around Mr. Cowen's desk to give him a hug. Thank you sir! I won't let you down. I promise.You better not. The other two were very qualified as well. I just have a lot of faith in you. Mr. Cowen waited for a moment, but Paige didn't stop hugging him. You can get off now.Oh! Sorry. Paige let go and stepped back. I'm just so happy. I'll just... go start working.

Mr. Cowen nodded. You realize this means you have to be on time and can't run off all the time, right?

Paige nodded. I know.Good. Congratulations again, Paige. Paige then walked out of the office with a smile on her face.

---

That night Sixpence None The Richer played at P3. Piper and Leo sat in their booth while the band began to play.

Kiss me... out of the bearded barley. Nightly... beside the green, green grass. Swing, swing... swing the spinning step. You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress. Oh, kiss me! Beneath the milky twilight. Lead me! Out on the moonlit floor. Lift your open hand. Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance while the silver moon's sparkling... So kiss me...

As the band moved onto the second verse Leo turned to Piper. So how do you feel now about the construction workers?Well... it was a close call yesterday. But I know we can't build that thing on our own. So I guess we will just have to do our best to keep them from seeing any magic. But they better build fast, okay?

Leo laughed. 

Paige came over at that moment and sat down with a huge smile on her face. Piper said, eyeing her sister. Why do you look so happy?I got my promotion! You are now looking at Social Worker Paige.Oh, congratulations, Piper said.

Yeah, but this also means that I can't run off at every little emergency. You guys are going to have to deal with some things on your own.I think we can do that.Good. So... where's Phoebe?She's at home. Said she didn't really feel like going anywhere tonight. I think she is still bogged down by the whole Cole thing.He was the love of her life. Still could be, actually.Yeah, well, I hope she comes to her senses and gets over him, Piper said, turning back to the band. And soon.

---

Phoebe sat on her bed in her darkened room, tears streaming down her face. She was holding a picture of herself and Cole, back when they had been so happy. Phoebe suddenly gasped as she was pulled into a vision.

Everything was foggy at first, but it cleared to show an alley. Phoebe saw herself, Prue, and Darryl standing and talking together. Cole then stepped into view. Ladies. My name is Cole Turner and I'm the Assistant District Attorney assigned to this case. I was wondering if either of you saw what happened here.

Phoebe watched herself raise her hand and knew exactly what she was going to say. I did!

With a flash the scene changed, this time to a cemetery. Phoebe saw herself getting ready to throw a potion down onto Cole. Cole said. Wait, I won't hurt you.No? It's a little late for that, don't you think? Phoebe could see the pain on her own face and remembered it fully. Why? Why didn't you just kill me? Why did you have to put me through all this? Was it some sick, twisted demonic thrill? Was that what it was?No, that's not it.Then what was it?I couldn't kill you. I tried. I was supposed to. I mean, at first you and your sisters thwarted my attempts. Even when I went back in time to destroy your line on All Hallows Eve.That was you?Then Troxa, Andras. I got him to strip your powers, make you vulnerable. I had you too, right where I wanted you. All I had to do was finish the job. But I couldn't. Because I realized I loved you.

Another flash and the scene became one that happened just before Prue died. She and her sisters were in the conservatory. Phoebe had wanted to try a potion on Cole to reverse the effects of a spell that had been put on him.

Piper started.

I'm not looking for your approval, Piper, just your support.Well, Phoebe, Prue said, It's sort of hard to support you when you're just setting yourself up to get hurt again.Cole is good inside, I know it. And if dark magic did this to him, then how come white magic can't save him? I can't just turn my back... I have to try.

Her vision jumped ahead into the future with another flash. She saw herself and Cole standing in her room, Cole holding a little black box with a diamond ring in it.

It's not your Grams', but hopefully it's not cursed.I don't think now is the time, Phoebe watched herself say.

Actually, I think now is the perfect time. He took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger, staring lovingly into her eyes. This way no matter what happens, you'll always know that I love you.

The vision collapsed and faded as Phoebe was torn from it. She was sweating and gasping for breath. Phoebe set down the picture and then moved over to her bedside table. She opened the drawer and pulled out a small box, opening that as well. Inside was the ring Cole had given her. No matter what, she whispered.

---

Cole stood out on his balcony, breathing in the night air and looking down on the city. He heard a ding behind him, meaning someone was entering the apartment from the elevator. You could only get to the apartment if you had a key for the elevator. And the only other one who had a key was...

Cole said, turning around.

There Phoebe was, standing in the middle of the apartment. Have you figured everything out?

Phoebe nodded and held up her hand, the ring Cole had given her glinting in the light of the moon that shone into the dim room. I have. She walked over to Cole and looked into his eyes. I just had to remember all the love. Yes, there is pain and there is sacrifice. And there is always the potential of evil trying to ruin our lives. But most of all there is love. She embraced Cole and kissed him. She was finally kissing the real Cole, the one she fell in love with. Not someone masquerading as him.

Cole pulled back for a second and breathed, I love you, Phoebe. I will always love you.I love you too, Phoebe whispered, pulling him back into the kiss.

**_  
End of Season Five Premiere: Starting Over _**  



	2. Episode Two: Trapped

**_Episode Two: Trapped_**

Piper opened the oven and pulled out a tray that was full of nice, warm sticky buns. She turned and set them down on a cooling rack on the island.

Phoebe came into the kitchen and went over to the tray. Oh, yum. She went to grab one, but Piper slapped her hand away. Hey! What was that for?These are for the construction crew. I got up early so I could make them something to eat. I want to thank them for working so hard on building the nursery.Oh. Well can't I just have one?No. There is only enough for each of them to have one.

Phoebe sighed and dropped down into one of the kitchen chairs. 

Both sisters looked up as Paige orbed into the room. Piper said. Where are you orbing in from? Paige said. I didn't want to try to get past all those tools and construction guys to get down the stairs. I'm so glad I have this power.Well you better be careful, Piper said, taking a pitcher of milk out of the fridge. We don't want to be exposed.I know. Oh, hey, sticky buns.No, they are not for you. They are for the construction crew. Piper got glasses out of the cupboard and a large plate as well. She then scooped out the buns, put them on the plate, then put that, the glasses, and the pitcher onto a large silver platter. If some of them don't want them you are welcome to eat them. Piper picked up the platter and walked out of the kitchen.

She could have made a few extra for us, Phoebe mumbled.

Paige nodded as the phone rang. she asked, picking it up.

Paige, this is Mr. Cowen. I have your first assignment for you.Really? Wow, that's great. What is it?We have been called several times from neighbors of a house on 7th avenue. They are saying that they hear screaming coming from the house, usually late at night. A couple and their child live there. The parents don't have a past of abuse, but we want to check it out. Just to make sure the kid is okay.Okay, so what should I do?Go to the house and do an inspection. Make sure everything is okay... see if you can spot any signs of abuse. Oh, but stop over here at the office first. To pick up the forms needed to get you into the house, even if the parents don't give consent.

Paige nodded. All right. I'll be right over. Paige hung up and then looked at Phoebe with a smile. I got my first assignment!Good for you. What is it?Neighbors have been hearing screams coming from this house. A kid lives there so I am supposed to check the place out and see if I can find any signs of abuse.Wow. You better be careful. If these people are abusing their child and they think you are about to find out then they might attack you.

Paige nodded. Well I can take care of myself. I am a witch after all. Paige grabbed her jacket off of the kitchen chair she had hung it on the night before. Any ways I better get going. I want to get to the bottom of this one.

Phoebe smiled. You sound like a detective.In a way... I am. Now all I need is a deer hunter hat and a magnifying glass like Sherlock Holmes and I am good to go.Right. I think you may be reading a bit too many books, Paige.You can never read too much. But any ways I'll see you later. Phoebe waved as her sister went out the back door. Now to find myself some food...

---

Paige rang the doorbell of the house she had been sent to and stepped back to wait for it to be answered. She didn't have to wait long. The door swung open just a moment later revealing a haggard looking woman. Can I help you, the woman breathed, absentmindedly patting at her disheveled hair.Hi Mrs. Marzon, I'm Paige Matthews. I'm from Social Services.

Mrs. Marzon stopped patting at her hair and stared at Paige. Is there something wrong?We have been getting several reports from neighbors about screaming coming from the house. Your file doesn't show any past crimes, but we have to be sure that you are not beating your child.

Mrs. Marzon's mouth dropped open. Beating our child? How could anyone think that? We love Timothy.I don't doubt that, Paige said. But we just have to be sure. Now you can invite me in or I can show you the papers I have with me that will let me in.

Mrs. Marzon sighed. No need. Please, come in. Paige entered the house and looked around. It seemed like a nice house. Things were pretty clean and neat. But Paige knew never to judge a book by its cover. She had to dig further.

Look, Ms. Matthews, Mrs. Marzon said.

Call me Paige.Yes, yes, Paige. I do not beat my son. Those screams heard were not his.Then whose were they?

Mrs. Marzon shook her head and her eyes began to water. I don't know. None of us know. We first began hearing the screaming a few weeks ago. I called the police, but after they checked the place out and found nothing wrong there was nothing they could do. And now we have been losing sleep and I don't think I can live here much longer if this continues.

Paige frowned. This case had just gotten a lot weirder. Where have the screams been coming from? Which room?That's just the thing. They haven't been coming from a specific room. It sounds like they are coming from the walls.

Paige pursed her lip. I think I might be able to help, Mrs. Marzon. Really, I do. But there is someone I need to get. Will you be all right here by yourself?

Mrs. Marzon nodded. Yes. The screams usually only happen at night.All right. I'll be back as soon as I can.

---

Cole was just about to push the elevator button when the doors slid open. 

Phoebe stepped out of the elevator and smiled. Hi. What are you doing here? Don't you have work?I finally goaded Elise into giving me a day off. So I came to see you.

Cole smiled. Well, good. I needed to talk to you anyway.Well... I was wondering if you would want to move back here with me, Cole said, slowly.

Phoebe started. I don't know if that is such a great idea...Why not? Cole asked.

Phoebe sighed and made her way farther into the apartment, sitting down on the couch. My sisters and I have learned time and time again that it is not a good idea to move away from one another. And I just got all my stuff back to the house. It's just not a good idea, in my opinion.

Cole sat down next to her. All right... Well how about I move back into the manor like before?

Phoebe bit her lip. That's not the best idea either.... Why?Well some people that will not be named might have a problem with that.Phoebe... You did tell your family that we are back together, right?Yeah, of course! Cole gave her a look. Another look. Cole just stared at her and Phoebe finally gave up. Okay, no. I haven't told them.Phoebe, you know that you can't keep secrets like this from your family. Remember what happened when you told Prue and Piper that you had vanquished me when you really hadn't? That didn't turn out too well.Okay, I'll tell them.I might be able to pencil that in for next month. With a look from Cole Phoebe changed her answer by saying, Next week? Another look. After another look from Cole Phoebe yelled out, Okay, I'll tell them tonight! Enough with the third degree.

Cole smiled and gave Phoebe a kiss on the cheek. That's my girl.Yeah, yeah. There was a sudden flurry of blue lights and Paige orbed into the room. Phoebe yelled, jumping up. What are you doing here?

Paige glanced around. What am I doing here? Phoebe, what are YOU doing here. With him! Phoebe, have you gone evil again? Phoebe protested.

She's not evil, Cole said, standing up. And neither am I.Like hell you aren't, Paige said. She looked around the room and then held out her hand. One of Cole's chairs sitting at the table across the room orbed out. Paige then turned and directed her hand at Cole. The chair orbed back in, flying through the air on a collision course with Cole.

Before the chair could hit him, Cole waved his hand, changing the chair into a pillow, which he caught and then dropped on the couch. Not evil, huh? That's an evil power right there!

Cole frowned. Changing things into pillows is evil now, huh?No, not that! Paige yelled. Just the changing in general! Paige went to orb something else, but Phoebe stopped her.

Paige, no. Listen to me. Cole is not evil, all right? He may have demonic powers but it was the only way he could get out of the Wasteland.Well why hasn't he gotten rid of them, Paige questioned.

I can't, Cole said. I already tried to and I can't. The only thing I can do now is use these powers that I have for good purposes.You've said that before. And then what happened? You went evil. How can we believe that it won't happen again?We can't, Phoebe said. Magic is always risky and we can't just think that everything will be okay. But you know what? I am taking the chance. Because I love him.

Paige sighed. I know you do, Phoebe. But Cole tried to kill us last time.I was possessed by the Source, Cole said. It wasn't my fault.Okay, okay, Paige said. You know what? I don't have time for this. I should be helping someone right now. That's why I came to find you Phoebe. I need your help.

Phoebe frowned. Why? Did something happen at that house you went to? Phoebe's eyes widened as a thought came to her. Are they demons? And they are trying to hurt the kid just like with what happened with Tyler last year?

Paige shook her head. No, they're not demons. It's just that when I was talking to Mrs. Marzon today she said that the screaming that people heard was not her son's. And that they didn't know who's it was and that it seemed to come from the walls.From the walls? Like from inside them?I don't know. But I came to see if you could come back with me to try and get a premonition or something. And then I orb to you and find you here with... him. Phoebe said. Enough on that. Let's go and deal with this screaming house. Phoebe turned to Cole and gave him a quick kiss. I'll see you later. Cole said as Phoebe took Paige's hand, who orbed the two of them out of the apartment.

---

Phoebe, this is Judy Marzon. Mrs. Marzon, this is my sister, Phoebe. I think she can help you.Hey, you're Phoebe Halliwell from the Bay Mirror. The advice columnist.

Phoebe nodded. That's me.... How is an advice columnist supposed to help with my problem?Um, well, I used to have a job as a psychic, Phoebe said.

... I see. Well I'll try anything. As long as you can stop that screaming from happening.We'll try, Paige said.

All right. I'll be in the kitchen. If you need me just call. Judy then turned and went towards the kitchen.

Phoebe said. Now what?Well feel around. See if you get anything.I did kind of feel something when I walked into this house. Maybe we can follow it to its strongest point. Phoebe started walking through the house with Paige in tow. It's getting stronger... I think it's coming from down there. She opened a door in front of her and she and Paige started down some stairs to the basement.

Okay, now even I can feel it, Paige said, shuddering. Now try to get a premonition.

Phoebe nodded and knelt down, placing her hands on the cold cement floor.

Getting anything? Paige prodded after a minute.

Phoebe hissed. I need to concen-- Phoebe suddenly gasped as she was pulled into a vision. She saw the basement that she was in, but there was no ceiling; the rest of the house wasn't there. Construction tools were strewn about and a wheel barrow with a bag of raw cement in it sat a few feet away.

Suddenly two men appeared. One was struggling to get away from the other. You can't get away, the first growled. You are a mere mortal. I am a demon. The demon then backhanded his victim, knocking him onto a stretch of ground where cement had already been laid. The demon waved his hand and the cement suddenly became liquid again and the man sunk into it. I'll leave you with a small pocket of air so your death can be agonizing. It won't matter if you scream. No one will hear you and you will just be wasting the little amount of oxygen you have. So long. The demon then waved his hand again and the cement hardened, encasing the man's body.

Phoebe opened her eyes as her vision ended. Oh my god, she whispered, standing up and backing away.

Paige asked. What did you see?

Phoebe pointed at the floor. There is a man's body encased in there. I saw a demon trap him in there when this house was being built. Paige looked at the floor.

Phoebe nodded. I think that his spirit is trapped here as well and he is screaming to be let free.All right, let's call Darryl. He can get a crew over here to dig the body out. And maybe once the body is free the spirit will be free.Maybe. But how do we tell Judy that there is a body under her basement floor.Well she thinks you are a psychic, which you are. So there shouldn't be a problem. She seems to be... sort of okay with supernatural things.Yeah. Well I'll go and tell her. You call Darryl and see if he can get over here. Phoebe then turned and went up the stairs as Paige pulled out her cell phone.

---

What happened? That was the first thing Darryl said as he came into the Marzon house.

Phoebe said. I had a vision of a guy being buried alive by a demon when this house was being built. Darryl put his hands over his face. Why did this happen to me? he muttered. Why couldn't I have become a dentist like my mother wanted me to? Dentists don't have to deal with the supernatural. Phoebe yelled, slapping the cop's arm. We don't have time for this. There is a body under the basement floor. We need to dig it up so that it can go back to its family and also so that its spirit can be set free.Wait, spirit?Yeah, that's why we came here in the first place, Phoebe said. Well, actually, Paige came here because neighbors were reporting screams coming from the house and Paige's boss told her to come here and see if the parents were abusing their child. Which they weren't, because the screams were actually those of the spirit of the man that is buried in the basement.

Darryl shook his head. Should have become a dentist.Oh, shush. Now what should we do to get that body out?Well first I am going to need a license to do the digging...We don't have time for that. Judy already said she would comply with getting the dead body out of there.All right, well we need a construction team. And it will take time to get one. Phoebe said, We might have one of those.You want us to what?Dig up a dead body, Piper said. Phoebe had called her just a few minutes before and had explained the whole situation. Piper hadn't thought that the construction team would agree to doing something like this, but Phoebe had begged.

This isn't in our contract.

Piper sighed. Yes, I know. But we will pay you extra for this. And all you have to do is break through the concrete. Then the police will take it from there and you can come back here and work on the nursery some more.I don't know. The men won't like this. And we aren't really allowed to do extra jobs when we are working on one already.Don't worry. If anything goes wrong we will take the full blame and make sure you don't get in trouble with your bosses. Piper could tell this man wasn't going for it. And... I'll make you all a big dinner for tonight.

A smile spread over the mans' face. Piper nodded. All right. We'll do it. We loved your cooking from this morning. Can't wait to see what else you can make. Piper said. Let's get going then. No time to lose!We've broken through! Greg, the lead construction worker stepped back from the hole that he and his men had made in the floor.

Phoebe rushed up and looked down inside, immediately jumping back. Oh, gross. Man, that stinks!It is a dead body, Paige said, holding her nose. And it has been down there for a few years now since the house was built. The cement partially preserved it, but it obviously didn't stop it from totally reeking.Our job here is done, Greg said. We'll go back to the house and keep working. He glanced at the body in the floor and grimaced. That better be a good dinner tonight, Piper. Greg and his workers then gathered up their tools and headed up the stairs.

All right, Phoebe said. Darryl, can you go get the people from the kitchen that you brought for this? But please keep Mrs. Marzon upstairs. I don't think she would want to see this. Darryl nodded and headed up the stairs. Okay, this should be over soon. Then we can all get back to our lives.You mean get back to Cole? Paige said.

What are you talking about? Piper asked. She turned to Phoebe. What is she talking about? Phoebe said. We can talk about it later.

Piper opened her mouth to say something, but Darryl came back down the stairs at that moment with several people coming down behind him. They took one glance at the body and then immediately got to work.

You sure that this guys' spirit will move on once the body has left? Darryl whispered to the sisters.

I think so, Phoebe said. I mean, it should, shouldn't it? The body being trapped here also trapped the spirit. So once the body leaves the spirit should be able to leave.I hope you're right, Darryl said. I'm going to have enough trouble explaining how you knew about this dead body being under the floor. If the spirit stays and this continues then I don't know what I'm going to do.It'll be all right, Piper said. You have always managed to deal with this stuff before. At that moment the workers got the body out. Oh, gross! That is so gross. Can we please get out of here? Our work is done and I need to get home and make a really big dinner for Greg and his crew. Paige said. I have to get back to work and file a report. At least Mrs. Marzon and her husband weren't abusing their child.Thank god for that, Piper said. Now let's leave before that stench makes me puke.Mmm, I've missed having you hold me in your arms. Phoebe and Cole were laying in Cole's bed at his apartment, Phoebe with her head on Cole's chest.

And I've missed holding you. I am so glad that you came back to me.Well I love you. There was no way that I couldn't come back to you.

Cole smiled. So... did you tell Piper that we are back together?Oh. No, I forgot. With the whole dead body in the basement floor going on it kind of slipped my mind. Sorry.No, it's okay. Just please tell her soon, okay?I will. I'll tell her first thing in the morning.Maybe you should get going home then. So she won't wonder where you are tonight.Well... Not just yet. I want to stay here with you a little longer.

Cole smiled again and kissed Phoebe's head. No complaints here, he said, holding on to Phoebe a little tighter.

---

It's looking great, guys. Keep up the good work. Piper turned from watching the construction workers and headed to the kitchen where her sisters were eating breakfast. It looks like they are close to being half done. That room is going to be finished in no time.I hope so, Phoebe said. No offense to them, but all the noise they make just drives me crazy.Speaking of crazy, Paige suddenly said. Don't you have something you want to tell us, Pheebs?

Phoebe glared at her sister.

What is she talking about? Piper asked.

Phoebe started slowly, thinking of what she was going to say. Paige could be referring to the news that I was planning on telling you this morning anyways.Which is?

Phoebe drew in a deep breath. Cole and I are back together. Piper yelled. Phoebe, are you crazy!I did say speaking of crazy' just a second ago, Paige muttered.

No, I'm not, Phoebe said, ignoring Paige. I love Cole. And I want to be with him.But Phoebe, Piper protested, he is--He's not evil! Phoebe shouted.

Piper rolled her eyes. And how many times has he said that now? It's like his new catch phrase or something!

The phone rang and Paige got up. I think I'll get that. Be right back, she said, leaving the kitchen.

Look, I know you think that he is a bad person. But he's not. He is my husband and I love him. And yes the powers he has may be evil, but he is not using them for evil. He is using them to do good things. And it was the only way he could get out of the Wasteland.Demons aren't supposed to get out of the Wasteland, Piper argued.

He's not a demon anymore. He WAS half-demon, but that half was vanquished. And he wasn't destroyed in the Wasteland because he wasn't meant to be. Because he's not evil.End of discussion, Phoebe said sternly. I'm staying with him and that's final. Now I have to get to work. Phoebe got up to leave, but Paige came back into the room with a troubled look on her face. Paige, what's wrong?That was Mrs. Marzon, Paige said. She said that there was more screaming last night. The spirit is still there.Oh no, Piper said. But I thought it was supposed to leave when the body left.I guess we were wrong, Paige said with a shrug.

Phoebe said. Let's check the Book of Shadows. See if it can tell us anything. Can you guys get started on that? I have to call Elise and tell her that I'm going to be late. She won't be happy... but it's Elise. She's never happy. As Phoebe pulled out her cell phone to call work Paige and Piper left the kitchen to go to the attic.

---

So, what have we got? Phoebe asked, walking into the attic.

Piper stood at the Book of Shadows, flipping the pages, as Paige stood next to her, looking over her sister's shoulder. Nothing yet, Piper said. And will you stop looking over my shoulder, Paige? It's annoying.A little touchy, are we? Paige asked, going to sit down on the couch.

was all Piper said. After another moment she stopped flipping. I think I found something.What's it say? Phoebe asked.

Um... Yeah, we were wrong. The spirit has to be released by a spell. And first we have to summon it.That's it? Paige asked. Man, why didn't we just do that in the first place? Then we wouldn't have had to go through the process of digging up that body.Well at least the family of that guy can have a proper burial now, Phoebe said. That has to count for something.

Piper nodded. It does. Now let's do this.Well how do we do it without Mrs. Marzon seeing us do the spell?She has seen enough as it is. This won't really matter. Now I will copy these spells and we can go.We three witches call a spirit, to come to us in this place. We say this spell and bid that you hear it, so you may come from the shadows and show your face.

There was a sudden howling and a white wisp rose up from the basement floor. It grew larger and took the shape of a man, his face one of extreme sorrow and pain. Help me! he cried.

We're trying to, Piper said. You'll be free in a minute.

She pulled out the other spell and she and her sisters started to read. You're pain will end, your sorrow will recede, from this place we do send, you are released by this deed. The spirit glowed brightly and the sisters saw him smile faintly before his form faded away.

Phoebe said. I think it's now official that the spirit is released.

---

Over in the woods behind the Marzon house sat the demon Montigue. It was he who had trapped the man in the basement floor of that house. He had been sealing people away like that for hundreds of years. He had been nicknamed Montigue since a character of that name had sealed a man inside a wall in an old story and the name stuck. No one even knew of his real name anymore.

For the past couple days Montigue had been watching the Marzon house. Witches had come and had been working to set the spirit that he had trapped there free. And now they had succeeded. The body and the spirit were gone from the house. This made Montigue angry. No one had ever been able to release the bodies and spirits he had trapped. He couldn't just leave this be. To make up for this spirit he would trap one of the witches.

After having watched them he knew who they were. They were the Charmed Ones. And if Montigue took out one of them he would be greatly rewarded. But he would have to choose wisely. He knew that one of them could orb and she would be able to escape easily. So he would have to choose one of the others.

---

Piper stepped out of the bathroom and into her room, dabbing her forehead with a wash cloth. Damn, morning sickness, she mumbled.

That's the least of your problems now, came a voice.

Piper turned to see a man standing there. Who the hell are you? she asked, throwing the wash cloth aside and holding her hands ready for action.

The name is Montigue. And you have angered me.Angered you? Piper questioned. What did I do?You, along with your sisters, released a spirit that I had trapped. I take great delight in trapping my victims and it makes me very angry if their spirit escapes.You? Your the one who trapped that man?Him along with many others. And since I now have to make up for a lost spirit... you will be next.I don't think so. Piper clenched and then unclenched her fists, releasing her power. Montigue dodged the blast and a chair was exploded instead. Montigue then waved his hand and ropes appeared, entwining themselves around Piper's body, holding her arms against her sides.

That was easy, Montigue said with a grin. He then grabbed Piper and shimmered out.

---

With a waver in the air Montigue appeared with Piper, dropping her to the floor. There were in a metal room with no doors or windows. Montigue snapped his fingers and the ropes binding Piper's body disappeared. Piper raised her hands, but Montigue held up a finger.

Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you, he said. For if you missed... you'd be dead.

Piper thought this over and then dropped her hands. Well you wouldn't want to blow a hole in the wall. See, we are currently in a metal box which is at the bottom of the ocean. The pressure at this depth is astounding. The metal is quite strong, though, so it is holding the pressure back. Yet if you blow a hole in it... then it's bye bye for you.

Piper glanced around and then looked heavenward. she called. 

Montigue smiled and shook his head. Sorry, that won't work. I have set a spell around this place that blocks the sensing of Whitelighters. They won't be able to hear you. No one will be able to save you. Montigue chuckled. Oh, and by the way... There isn't much air in here. So I would be careful how much you use up. Bye now! He then shimmered and was gone.

Oh god, Piper whispered, turning all around for some way to escape. But there was none. And if she used her power to blast a hole in the wall then water would rush in and she would drown. Not to mention be crushed by the water pressure. She began to breath hard with fear, but then remembered that Montigue had said there wasn't much air. She tried to calm her self and breath slow, short, breaths. She sat down in a corner. she whispered, using as little air as she could. Please, help me.Leo, have you seen Piper?

Leo glanced up at Phoebe from where he was looking over some blue prints with the construction workers. Uh... no. Why?Well we were going to meet here for lunch.Um, check up stairs. I think I saw her go up there earlier.Okay. Thanks. Phoebe moved past the workers and went up the stairs. she called, going into Piper's room. Are you in here? She glanced around and saw that a chair was lying in pieces on the floor. What the...?

Phoebe bent down and picked up a broken chair leg. She flinched and her eyes closed just as she touched it. In her mind Phoebe saw Piper try to blow up someone, but missed, hitting the chair instead. She then saw that someone grab Piper and shimmer out with her.

Oh god, Phoebe said as she came out of her vision. That demon was the same one I saw in my other vision... She turned and ran out of the room and down the stairs. Leo! Leo, I need to talk to you. She grabbed her brother-in-law's arm and pulled him towards the kitchen. Piper's been captured.What! Just now?No, I don't know exactly when it happened. I went into her room and found a destroyed chair. When I touched one of the pieces I got of vision of a demon taking Piper. The same demon from my other vision, the one who trapped that man.Oh no... How come I didn't hear the fight? I could have done something. I could have stopped this.Leo, don't blame yourself, Phoebe said. You probably didn't hear it because of all the noise with the construction. Now come on, we have to do something. Can you sense her?

Leo shut his eyes and concentrated. After a moment he shook his head. No, I can't. I feel like I'm being blocked from sensing her. Phoebe asked, worriedly. Well how is that possible?There are rumors that there is a spell out there that can be used to block a Whitelighter's sensing power. I guess it's true and I guess this demon has it.Okay, well, we'll find some other way to find her. You call Paige and tell her what has happened. I'll go check the Book for this demon.I called Paige, Leo said, coming into the attic. She said she would be here-- There was a flurry of blue lights and Paige appeared. Have you found anything yet? Paige asked Phoebe who stood at the Book.

I think so. The demon's name is Montigue. It's not his real name, but a nick name that he gained because of what he does. Which, as we already know, is trapping people. His victims usually die a very painful death, usually by suffocation.Well how do we get rid of him?Um... it says that the only way to vanquish him is to trap him like he traps his victims.Trap him? Paige asked. And how do we do that?I don't know.Well first we have to find Piper, Leo said.

The question is how, Paige said. You told me on the phone that your sensing power is being blocked. And if he can block that then he has probably blocked scrying as well. So how do we find her? Phoebe said.

Leo and Paige both yelled.

Think about it. This demon may be able to block the sensing of Whitelighters and maybe even scrying. But I doubt he can block someone with as many powers as Cole. Paige said, We can't trust him. Especially with something as important as Piper's life.Well Piper's life won't last much longer if we don't do something, Phoebe shot back. And Cole is our only hope.

---

Piper sat up against the metal wall head in her hands. She knew she was going to die. Leo and Paige wouldn't be able to sense her and her air was running out fast. She was already getting a little light head from the lack of oxygen.

Suddenly there was a shimmer and Cole appeared. Oh, god, Piper muttered. I'm starting to hallucinate. And why the hell am I hallucinating about someone I hate?

Cole's face looked a little hurt by Piper's comment, but he shook it off. Piper, you're not hallucinating. I'm actually here. I'm here to save you.

Piper shook her head. No... that can't be right. Why in hell would you save me? I've threatened to kill you. This lack of air is just getting to my head. Her eyes began to flutter. I think I need to take a nap. Yeah... that would be nice. Sleep cures all.Piper, no. You have to stay awake.Can't... too tired... Piper then slumped to the side.

Oh no. Cole bent down and lifted Piper up off the floor. He then flared out.

---

Cole flared into the attic where the other's were waiting.

Oh god, is she okay! Phoebe yelled, running over to Cole.

She'll be all right, Cole said, setting Piper gently down onto the couch. She just needs to get some air in her. He glanced at Leo. But maybe you should heal her just in case.

Leo knelt down next Piper and put his hands over her, a golden light streaming down from them. After a moment Piper opened her eyes. Piper... Thank goodness you're all right. Piper glanced around. What happened? How did I get back home?Cole saved you, Phoebe said, smiling up at Cole.

What? You did? Cole nodded. Um... Thanks... I guess. Piper suddenly sat up. Okay, it's time to get rid of that demon. Do we have a spell or something? Paige said. The Book said that the only way to destroy him is to trap him.I think I may have an idea, Cole said. He waved his hand and a large wooden box, like the ones magicians use, appeared in the center of the room. We can trap him in that.He could just shimmer out, Piper said.

Cole waved his hand again and the box glowed for a second. Not anymore. Once he is in there he won't be able to shimmer out.So... what? Paige asked. He'll die from claustrophobia or something?

Cole shrugged. You said that you had to trap him. This will keep him trapped.How do we get him here? Leo asked.

Well that's the easy part, Piper said. I bet he'll be so pissed off that I escaped that he's going to come back and try to kill me.And we'll be waiting, Cole said.

Actually, Cole, Paige said, I think you have done enough. Thanks for your help and all, but we can take it from here. Phoebe yelled.

No, I'll go, Cole said, with a sigh. He then flared out.

Paige, why did you-- Phoebe was cut off as Montigue suddenly shimmered into the attic.

Do you know how much you have angered me! Montigue yelled.

Do we care? Piper asked.

You released one of my trapped victims and I tried to make up for him by trapping you, yet now you have escaped as well! I shall now just kill you quickly.You can try. Paige started for the demon, but he waved his hand and the floor opened up under Paige. She fell through into Piper's room directly below, hitting her head and falling into unconsciousness. The floor then closed up again.

Piper yelled. Leo, get down there and heal her! Leo orbed out and Piper turned to blast the demon. But Montigue shot out his hands and what looked like wraps for a mummy came shooting out of them, heading directly for Piper and Phoebe. Piper screamed as she was hit, the wraps whipping around her and encasing her entire body.

Phoebe dove to the floor and rolled, avoiding the attack. She came up right next to Montigue and spun in a circle, giving a strong kick to his chest. The demon cried out and stumbled back, right into the open box. Phoebe jumped forward and slammed the boxe's door closed, locking it.

came Montigue's cry. No, let me out! Let me out! AH! An explosion from inside the box ripped it apart, throwing Phoebe to the floor.

The wraps encasing Piper's body disappeared and Leo and Paige orbed back into the room. Is he gone? Paige asked.

Phoebe got to her feet. Demon go boom, she said, eyeing the debris of the box.

Guess we gave him a taste of his own medicine, Piper said with a smile.

Thanks to Cole, Phoebe said. Paige and Piper looked away. Phoebe sighed. I'll go get a broom.

---

Phoebe entered the dining room later that night to see her sisters both sitting at the table. Phoebe said. You guys look like you are waiting for something. Piper said. We've been waiting for you. Phoebe said, sitting down.

Paige nodded. We've been wanting to talk to you. She paused. About Cole.Look, you guys, I don't want to talk about this again. I have told you time and time again that he isn't evil anymore. And I'm going to stay with him no matter what.We know, Piper said. And we have decided to stop fighting you on this. That maybe you are right. That Cole isn't evil anymore.What made you change your mind?Well... Cole saved my life. And I know he probably did it for you. But he still did it. And he also helped us vanquish the demon. Without his help today... We'd probably be dead.Yeah, Pheeb's, Paige said. We're... sorry.

Phoebe smiled. Thanks guys. This means so much to me. She thought for a moment. So since you guys are kind of okay with Cole now... what do you think about him moving in with us again? Piper and Paige yelled simultaneously, making Phoebe jump.

Piper patted Phoebe's arm. Baby steps, sis. Baby steps.

**_End of Episode Two: Trapped_**


	3. Episode Three: Halloween Horror

_**Episode Three: Halloween Horror**_

"Hello? Anyone home?" Piper came into the manor late at night after having closed at P3. It had been a long night with a band playing and the place being packed. Now Piper just wanted to get some sleep. "Hello?" she called again, hanging up her coat.

The house was silent. Yet there was a sudden crashing sound that came from the living room and the house suddenly went dark as all the lights suddenly went out.

"Oh great," Piper said. "I can't see a thing." She made her way into the living room and from the light of an outside street lamp she could see that one of the windows was broken. "Now how did that happen?"

Piper's foot hit something on the floor. "What the...?" The lights then came back on and Piper let out a scream. Phoebe and Paige were lying on the floor, their eyes wide open, yet lifeless, blood seeping out of stab wounds that each of their chests held. Piper backed away, tears streaming down her face. But then she bumped into someone who was standing behind her. She screamed again and spun around to see a person standing there, draped in the infamous costume from the Scream movies.

A laugh emanated from behind the mask. "And now it's your turn," the person's deep voice said, holding up a bloodied knife. He swung his arm, slashing the knife at Piper. But she ducked under his swing and ran towards the door to the sun room.

Piper grabbed the handle to the door as she reached it and tried to open it. Yet the door wouldn't budge. She turned to look back at the costumed figure who whipped his arm, sending the knife flying through the air at Piper. She threw up her hands and the knife froze. She stared at the blood on it for a second, knowing it was the blood from her sisters' bodies, and then turned back to the door to the sun room. "Come on, open!" she screamed, pulling on the handle as the masked person laughed and strode towards her.

The door finally opened and Piper ran into the next room and around to the dining room. She glanced behind her for just a moment and then ran for the foyer. As she got there the figure jumped in front of her from the living room, once again holding the knife. "You can't escape," he said, advancing towards her.

Piper didn't respond, but just turned on her heal and ran up the staircase. She felt the man latch onto her ankle and she fell with a yelp of pain. Piper turned over onto her back and kicked her attacker in his masked face, sending him falling backwards over the stairs. Tears streaming from her eyes, Piper scrambled to her feet and ran the rest of the way up the stairs, going to her room and slamming the door shut. She backed up across the room and glanced around for a place to hide. She went to the closet and left the door to it open just a crack. Piper then held her breath, hoping that she wouldn't be found.

The creak of the hallway floorboards showed that the killer was coming. The noise of his footsteps stopped at the entrance to Piper's bedroom and the door slowly came open. Piper watched through the small crack of her closet as the man searched around the room.

As he bent down to look under the bed, Piper quietly opened the closet door and then ran past the man and towards her bedroom door. She then screamed out in pain as her hair was grabbed and she was pulled back into the killer's grasp. "Don't struggle," he whispered into Piper's ear. "This will just hurt for a minute." A stinging pain then went through Piper as the knife that had killed Phoebe and Paige stabbed into her.

"No!" Piper yelled, lurching up in bed, a cold sweat coating her body. She glanced at the calendar that was on her bedroom wall to see that it was October 31st, the day of the first Autumn holiday. "I hate Halloween," Piper muttered to herself and laid back down to try and get back to sleep.

---

Deep in a cavern of the Underworld a demon stood at an altar. His name was Zolta, an upper level demon. His dark hair was a mangled mess and his clothes were ragged. At that moment he was checking to make sure he had what he needed for a spell he was going to do that night.

"It's almost ready," Zolta said to his minion, Cralor. "Tonight, on this hallow night, I will open a portal that will release evil spirits into this world and create chaos. No one will be able to stop me!"

"Sir," Cralor said meekly. "Not to rain on your demonic parade, but... there may be someone who would be able to stop you."

"Who?"

"The Charmed Ones. Powerful witches they are. If they get word of your plan then they could destroy you. And they very well could find out, for one of them is said to have the power of premonition."

"Ah, yes. The Charmed Ones. I have heard of them. Well to make sure they don't interfere we will just have to kill them before we start tonight."

"Kill them?" the minion repeated. "That's not really an easy thing to do..."

"I have the power. And we will attack now. It's early morning for them. They will just be getting up and won't be prepared for an attack."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. Now come. Let's go." Zolta then shimmered out, followed after a moment by a reluctant Cralor.

---

"Piper," Leo whispered to his sleeping wife. "Wake up."

"No."

"Come on, I have a surprise for you."

"If it doesn't involve food, I don't want it."

Leo laughed. "You'll like this surprise. Now come on, get up."

"Fine," Piper said with a sigh, pushing herself out of bed. She wrapped her robe around her and then followed Leo out of the room and down the stairs. "Leo, what is it? It's way too early in the morning for surprises. Can't this wait?"

"Not when I stayed up all night making the final touches," Leo said, stopping next to the new nursery door.

"...You finished it?"

Leo nodded. "Yep."

"Well open the door, let me see!"

Leo laughed and opened the door, letting Piper step inside.

"Oh, Leo, it's beautiful." She stopped next to a crib that Leo had built. "This is just so great. I want to have the baby now so it can sleep in here tonight."

"Well having the baby now wouldn't be a good idea. It's only about three inches long at the moment."

"You know what I mean," Piper said, playfully slapping her husband on the shoulder. "We have to wake up Phoebe and Paige so they can see this."

"Phoebe stayed at Cole's last night and Paige had a late night of work. I saw her go to bed around three in the morning as she passed by the nursery. I think we should let her rest."

Piper nodded. "Okay." The two stepped back out of the nursery. "Now how about you go get some rest and I will make a big breakfast. You need a reward for what you did."

Leo smiled and kissed his wife. "All right. Thanks." Leo started to go up the stairs when two demons suddenly shimmered into the room; it was Zolta and Cralor. "Demons!"

Piper ducked as Crolar threw an energy ball at her. "No!" she screamed as the energy ball sailed into the nursery. She threw up her hands and the energy ball exploded, harming nothing. "Paige! Help!"

Paige orbed into the foyer a moment later, in her pajamas and rubbing sleep out of her eyes. "What's all the noise about?" She then caught sight of the demons. "Oh." She orbed out as Zolta shot a lightning bolt at her and orbed back in inside the dining room. She caught sight of an athame in Zolta's belt and held out her hand. "Athame!" The weapon orbed from the belt and started to reappear in Paige's hand. Yet before it could fully form she redirected it back at Zolta. The demon stepped out of the way and it instead hit Cralor, vanquishing him.

Piper used her power on Zolta and an explosion ripped across his chest, sending him flying back into the living room. "Damn," Piper hissed. "That was supposed to kill him."

Zolta got to his feet and looked at the scorch mark on his chest. "You haven't seen the last of me," he said, just before shimmering out.

"Why do they have to say that?" Piper asked. "Why not say, 'It was nice meeting you, yet we just don't get along, so I'll go somewhere far away and never come back'?"

"Because they're demons," Paige said, coming in from the dining room. "If they don't like you they decide to come back and kill you."

"Evil."

"Yeah. And why are they attacking this early anyway? Don't demons sleep?"

"Yeah, they sleep," Leo said. "Yet there is no sun in the Underworld, so they don't really have a set sleeping time frame."

"Well we do have one," Paige muttered. "And they should learn that..."

"I don't think they care," Piper said.

"Well whatever. I'm going back to bed." Paige then started up the stairs.

"What about the demon?" Piper asked.

"If he attacks then you can wake me up. But I won't be much help otherwise. So you can call Phoebe and she can help with the research."

Piper sighed. "The research can wait. I'm going to get started on that breakfast."

"Do you want me to go talk with the Elders?" Leo asked.

"No. No, you go get some rest. I'll call you when breakfast is ready."

"Okay."

As Leo went up the stairs Piper turned and looked into the nursery. "That one energyball could have done so much damage," she mused. With a sigh she closed the door and headed down the stairs.

---

"Cralor was right," Zolta muttered to himself. "The witches are too powerful. I'm going to need more help." He waved his hand and a demon appeared.

"You summoned me?"

"Yes. I know that you are one of the demons that has access to a lot of information."

The demon nodded. "This is true. What would you like to know?"

"I need soldiers. Powerful ones. I have some very special plans that need to be carried out, but I can't do them with the Charmed Ones around. I need soldiers that can help me take them out."

The demon looked thoughtful for a moment. "I may be able to help you. There is a band of goblins in the Ronaian caves of the Underworld. They are not particularly strong, but there are quite a few of them. Maybe enough to take out the Charmed Ones. At least keep them busy long enough for you to... carry out your plans."

"Are you sure of this?"

"Pretty sure."

"Good. Then I will go there. Thank you. You may go now."

The demon shifted his weight. "I usually require some sort of payment for the information that I give."

"How about I don't kill you right here and now. How's that for payment?"

"Perfect," the demon said, shimmering out.

---

Phoebe opened her eyes and let out a joyful sigh. She loved waking up next to the man she loved. Cole was still sound asleep, looking so peaceful. Sun rays streamed in through the large window to flow over the bed.

Phoebe smiled and rolled over to look at the clock. "Oh my god!"

Cole was startled awake and he sat up. "What is it? Demons?"

"No! It's almost ten o'clock! I was supposed to be at work at nine!" Phoebe bolted from the bed and grabbed her robe and flung it around herself. She tied her hair back with a rubber band from the bedside table and started to snatch up some clothes.

"Phoebe, slow down," Cole said, yawning. "It's not the biggest deal in the world."

Phoebe stopped cold and stared at Cole. "Not the biggest deal? We are talking about my job here. My career! This is the best job I have ever had. It's a huge deal!" She then started running around again, pulling on clothes while she tried to find her purse.

"What about breakfast?" Cole asked.

"Don't have time." Phoebe finished dressing and found her purse on a chair in the corner of the room. She dug through it and took out some makeup, putting it on as fast as she could.

"Are you sure? Because there was something I wanted to talk to you about and breakfast is the best time to do it..."

"I'm sorry, Cole, but I can't. If I get fired from this job then my life is over."

"I think that's an exaggeration."

"Okay, it is. But still I really have to be at work right now." She took the rubber band out of her hair and threw it aside, combing her hair as best as she could. "Okay, I love you." She gave a quick kiss to Cole and ran out of the room. "We'll talk later tonight!" she called behind her. "There's a Halloween party at P3! Meet me there!"

Cole sighed and laid back down.

---

Phoebe entered the Bay Mirror bullpen and looked around. "Good. Elise is no where in sight." Phoebe quickly snuck into her office and let out a big sigh of relief. "Made it."

"Phoebe!"

"Ah crap." Phoebe turned around and put on a huge smile. "Hi Elise! How are you this morning?"

"How am I? Well let's see. This morning I spilled coffee all over my best blouse, I'm swamped with work, three of my evening edition employees called and said they couldn't come in tonight, and you are late!"

"Just a little..."

"You call an hour and a half just a little? Phoebe, I don't know how time works in your own little world that you spend so much time in, but at a professional newspaper an hour and a half is a lot!"

Phoebe sighed. "Okay, you're right. I'm sorry. I just woke up late and I didn't have time to eat breakfast or take a shower..."

"Well I can see that," Elise said, crossing her arms and eyeing Phoebe's hair.

Phoebe narrowed her eyes. "Yes. Anyways, I am going to get right to work on my column. You have nothing to worry about, Elise. I have everything under control."

"Uh huh. Well before you do get to work I have something I need to tell you."

"Is it good news?" Phoebe asked, pleadingly.

"Well I haven't had any today, so why should anyone else?"

"Uh—"

"Rhetorical question," Elise said, cutting Phoebe off. "Anyways, for some reason my bosses decided that it would be good for promotion if several of our employees took groups of children out for trick-or-treating tonight."

"Oh that's great!" Phoebe said with a smile.

"And you are going to be one of them."

The smile faded. "Oh, that's not. Um, Elise, I can't take children out for trick-or-treating tonight. There's a party at my sister's club that I am going to."

"Well the list for people who can't do it has already been filled. And certain people who were late... get stuck with the job."

"But—"

"No buts! You are doing this, Phoebe. Be here at six o'clock tonight. Now I suggest you get to work. Deadline is in a couple hours." Elise turned and started to walk out of the office. She then stopped and looked back at Phoebe. "Oh, and would you wear a costume? And when I say 'would you' I mean 'you will'. Got it? Good."

Phoebe slumped down in her chair after Elise had left. "This Halloween sucks."

---

Zolta shimmered into the goblin cave and looked around. There were piles of ash all over the place. "It seems as though that demon didn't get the memo of these creatures being vanquished." He glanced at the many piles. "And someone quite powerful must have done this."

"It was the Charmed Ones," came a voice.

Zolta turned to find a mirror hanging on the cave wall. Inside the mirror was a wispy, shadowed form. "Who are you?"

"A demon, trapped in a hellish dimension for hundreds of years, my only company being my two siblings. And my only way to see out into the world is through this mirror."

Zolta smirked. "That is a sad tale," he said, sarcasm in his voice. "Sorry, but I must be going now."

"Wait," the demon in the mirror said, stopping Zolta from leaving. "You came here looking for something. For help; I assume the help of the goblins."

"Yes, I did. I needed them to help me defeat the Charmed Ones."

"Well, as I said, it was the Charmed Ones who killed the goblins. Tell me, why do you want to go up against those three?"

Zolta sighed. He didn't really have time for this, but he decided to tell the demon anyways. Maybe he could help. "I have been preparing to do a ritual for months. One that can only be done on this hallow night. I plan to open a portal which will release evil spirits into the world and create havoc. Yet the Charmed Ones are bound to interfere, as is their way. So I need help to kill them, or at least keep them occupied until I can complete my ritual."

"Ah, a fine plan," the demon said, intrigue high in his voice. "One I can help you with. But if I help you then you must help me."

"Help you do what?"

"Escape."

Zolta shook his head. "I don't have time to do that."

"But you are opening a portal to a demonic realm. It would not be hard to also open one to this dimension that is holding me. I could tell you how to do it."

"And what do I get in return?" Zolta asked.

"I know of some demons that will be able to help you. They are called Skull demons. They look like skeletons. They aren't the most powerful warriors... but they are very resilient. Should be enough to distract the witches long enough."

Zolta thought this over. Releasing this demon was risky. He might just turn on him and then take control of the world himself. On the other hand, who knew how powerful this demon really was? Zolta was an upper-level demon himself, strong enough to hold his own in demonic circles. And this demon might be very grateful for Zolta's help that he might become Zolta's servant. It was an intriguing idea.

"All right," Zolta said with a nod. "I help you, you help me."

The shadowed demon's eyes glowed a dark red. "Good..."

---

Piper took the Halloween cookies she had made out of the oven and started scooping them onto a cooling rack. Leo came in and saw the cookies, instantly grabbing for one. "No, Leo, these are for the party tonight."

"But will it matter if I just have one?"

"Yes. I have planned out this whole system to make an exact amount of cookie dough, to make an exact amount of cookies, for an exact amount of people."

Leo grinned at his wife's obsessive compulsive behavior. "Piper, you don't even know how many people are going to be there."

"Oh yes I do. It's Halloween and people love parties on Halloween, so enough people will show. But I'm only going to let a certain amount of people in. That way everyone has a cookie."

"You're crazy," Leo said, kissing Piper on the forehead. "By the way, that was a great breakfast this morning. Thanks."

"You're welcome. But now we have left overs since Paige didn't get up to come down and eat. She's just been so tired lately with her boss working her so hard. I think she has found out how much work a social worker has to do."

"Speaking of work... shouldn't she be there by now?"

"Yeah, she should. But she's so tired. I think we should let her sleep some more."

"Can't sleep," Paige said, rushing into the room. "I'm late for work. And my boss said that as a social worker I can't be late anymore." She grabbed her keys and stuffed them into her pocket. "Mug," she called, and a mug appeared on the table in front of her. She pointed at the coffee pot and said, "Coffee" then quickly pointed at her mug. A portion of the coffee from the pot orbed out and reappeared in Paige's mug.

"Why couldn't you just get the mug from the cupboard and pour the coffee yourself?" Piper asked.

"No time," Paige said, pulling on her jacket. She took a large swig from the coffee mug and then hustled out the back door.

"Uh, bye," Piper called after her.

"Well, that was the fastest I have seen anyone leave for work," Leo said.

"Yeah... Man, I hope her work load lightens up some. I'm not really liking Paige this way."

"Well we can help with that work load. Part of it anyway; the demonic part. Did you look in the Book of Shadows for the demon?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "No, Leo. If you haven't notice I have been busy cooking you a huge breakfast and baking goodies for the party tonight."

"Doesn't vanquishing demons trump having parties?" Leo asked.

Piper sighed and turned away. "I don't want to go after the demon."

Leo frowned. "Why not?"

"Because maybe Paige and I scared him enough this morning to make him stay away. And if we go after him then it will just motivate him to come back and try to kill us. If we leave him alone he might leave us alone."

"But Piper," Leo said, "he vowed to come back."

"Demons always say that," Piper said, turning back around.

"And they usually mean it. Piper—"

"Leo, I'm busy today. I don't have time to go chasing after demons. If he attacks again then fine, we'll vanquish him. But otherwise I don't want to go making unnecessary trouble for us, okay?"

"Fine," Leo huffed, giving up.

"Okay then. Now I need you to—"

The slam of the front door and Phoebe's call interrupted Piper. "I am so mad at her!" Phoebe came stomping into the kitchen and threw down her purse on the table.

"Who?" Piper asked.

"Elise. She knows that my column takes up a lot of my time. And also that I have a lot of family emergencies. But she goes and decides to make me take kids trick-or-treating tonight."

"Her kids?" Leo asked.

Phoebe bit her lip. "I don't think she has any kids." She thought for a moment and then shook her head. "But that is not the point. See, someone in the administration thought it would be good for promotion if employees from the paper take kids trick-or-treating tonight. And at first I thought it was a great idea. But then Elise told me that I had to do it."

"That sounds kind of... selfish," Piper said, though hoping not to up her sister's temper.

"No, no, no. That's not what I meant. It's a great idea for employees that have kids of their own and are going trick-or-treating anyway, but I have that party of yours to go to tonight. And I have to meet Cole there. He said this morning that he wanted to talk to me about something."

"Oh. Well why didn't you tell Elise that you already had plans?"

"I did," Phoebe said, sitting down at the kitchen table. "But she said that the list for people who couldn't do it was already full. And since I was late... I got stuck doing it."

"This family sure seems to be late to work a lot," Piper mused. "Not that I'm surprised, with what we have to deal with and all."

"You know, usually I would do it," Phoebe continued as if she hadn't heard Piper. "I like kids, I really do. And I think that this is actually a good idea. But I already have plans."

"I don't think the trick-or-treating will go that long," Leo said. "Parents won't want their children out too late. Especially on a night like this. And Cole will understand, I'm sure."

"Besides," Piper said, "this party is going late into the night. Maybe all night. So you won't miss much."

"Okay, you're right," Phoebe said, giving up. "It's just that I'm a little peeved that Elise didn't give me a choice in the matter." She pushed herself up from the table. "Well, I'm off."

Piper checked her watch. "Wow, you had a short lunch break. Elise say that you had to be back early since you were late this morning?"

"No," Phoebe said, shaking her head. "It's the same. I just have to go to the costume store."

"Why?" Leo asked.

"To buy a costume, of course. Elise said it was mandatory."

"Oh, that sucks," Piper said, making a face.

"Yeah. I haven't dressed up for Halloween since that time you, Prue, and I got sent backwards in time."

"Yeah, that wasn't fun. Oh, but I wouldn't wear the same type of thing you did last time."

"Why not?" Phoebe asked.

"Well it was a little... slutty. I don't think the kids' parents would be thrilled if you showed up wearing something that showed off your cleavage."

Phoebe pursed her lips. "You have a good point. Okay, I'll reign it in this year."

"Great. See ya."

"Bye." Phoebe turned and went back out the way she had come.

"Okay, as I was saying," Piper said, pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket. "I need you to go to the store for some things." She handed Leo the list.

"Okay, what are you going to do?"

"Go pumpkin shopping. Meet me back here in about in hour. You can help me make some jack-o-lanterns."

---

Phoebe browsed through the racks of costumes at the costume shop, trying to find something that wouldn't make her look like a total whacko. She pulled a hippie costume off the rack and examined it.

"Hmm. It's nice... but it's too cold out to be wearing something like this." She sighed and put the costume back.

"May I help you?" asked a clerk, coming up to Phoebe.

"Do you have anything that won't make me look like an adult acting like a kid?" Phoebe asked.

"Well... you are dressing up for Halloween."

"Yeah, well it's required," Phoebe said. "See, at my work we are taking groups of kids out trick-or-treating and having a costume is mandatory. Why? Because my boss is being evil and making me do this, even though I already have plans for the night, not including anything that could pop up out of nowhere like always and... you don't care about any of this," Phoebe said, seeing the look on the clerk's face. She sighed and continued. "I just need a costume that won't cause me to get laughed at."

"Well there's the witch costume. Lots of people wear that so you wouldn't be too out of place."

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah... but the witch thing is pretty common for me. ... I mean, I used to wear that one a lot. Anyways, this year I want something else." She then spotted the perfect costume and grabbed it up, a big smile on her face as she looked it over.

"Ah, the Cinderella costume. That's a good one. Doesn't look too kid like. I think it would look good on you."

"Thanks," Phoebe said, grinning. "Cinderella was always my favorite fairy tale."

"So are you going to buy that?"

"Yeah, definitely." Phoebe then followed the clerk up to the register, the costume under her arm.

---

"Alright, that does it for the Henderson case." Mr. Cowen shuffled some papers and then set them aside. "Now for the Mcnaley case. Paige, do you have the file?" He looked across the conference table at Paige, who had her head down. "Paige!"

"Blow him up!" Paige yelled, bolting up in her seat. She looked confused for a moment and then looked around. Everyone was staring at her.

"What did you say?" Mr. Cowen asked.

"Uh... Donuts. I was saying we should get donuts," Paige said with an innocent smile.

"Well, not right now. Right now we should all pay attention and get to work on the next case. Do you have the file?"

"Uh... which file?"

"The Mcnaley one, Paige," Mr. Cowen said, his voice beginning to fill with frustration.

"Oh, that one. Um, I think I left it on my desk. I'll be right back." She then got up and sped out the door. Once out of the room she leaned against the wall and yawned, closing her eyes. "Ugh, I'm so tired. Wish I had something to wake me up." Paige's eyes then flew open and she smiled. "Why not a little spell? Couldn't hurt. And if my boobs balloon up, I'll just reverse it."

Paige slipped into the women's bathroom and made sure no one was in there. Once satisfied, she started going over rhymes in her head, trying to think up a spell. Finally she went over to the mirror and said to her reflection, "Awake is how I need to stay, coffee and sugar just aren't enough. Any personal gain I can later pay, for this magical sugar rush."

A golden glow washed over Paige and her eyes went wide. "Wow, that works fast." She sped out the bathroom and went back to her meeting. "Okay, I got the file, I'm ready to go. Are all of you ready? Well you better be, because this is going to go fast, fast, fast!"

"Paige," Mr. Cowen said, "are you alright?"

"Fine and dandy! I just needed a little coffee to wake me up. Okay, let's get started, shall we?"

---

"Look, ma'am, that is the best pumpkin I have. And you've already looked at all the others. Please, just make a decision."

Piper stood in a small field that was filled with stacks of hay, on which pumpkins sat. In her hands was one of the large fruits and she was turning it all around, examining every inch of it. Next to her stood an annoyed farmer, dressed in layers of flannel.

"Look, buddy, any pumpkins I choose will be on display at my club. If they look bad, then the club looks bad, which means that I lose business. Do you want me to lose business?"

"No," the farmer sighed. "But I would like to keep business myself. So you just keep looking and I'm going to go help some people who might actually buy something."

"I doubt they will," Piper muttered as the man walked away. "With the state these pumpkins are in, who would want to buy them?"

She set the pumpkin she was looking at down and picked up another, holding it up close to see if there were any bruises. Finding one, she lowered the pumpkin, revealing the skeleton that was standing right in front of her.

Piper screamed and dropped the pumpkin, backing up against a hay stack. The thing was obviously a demon, but it looked just like a human skeleton. In its literal bony hand was a large sword that glinted as sunlight hit it. With that sword the demon slashed downward at Piper, who flung up her hands, freezing the demon and the sword. Stepping to the side, Piper got out of the way just in time, for the demon suddenly unfroze and its sword sliced down through where Piper had just been, cutting a pumpkin in half.

"Okay, freezing doesn't last long with you," Piper said, glancing at the ruined pumpkin and thinking of how that could have been her head. "So, I'm just gonna go." She turned to leave, but found another skeleton demon standing just a mere ten feet away, this one holding a mace. "Oh, so there's two of you. Did you die together?"

She backed away from both of them, who were silently and slowly advancing towards her with their raised weapons. Not a sound came from them; not a growl, a grunt, or a threat. They were, punningly, as silent as the dead.

"Not talking, huh? Well, you'll die together now." She raised her hands, but instead of releasing a freeze, Piper used her other power to blow them up. Flames did not consume them like most demons when hit with Piper's power. No, these demons really exploded, sending bits and pieces of their bones all over the field.

"Well that's different," Piper said. She sighed and started back towards her car, repeating the phrase that she had used that morning. "I hate halloween."

Several minutes after Piper left, the farmer came back. "Did you find anything yet?" he said in annoyance. Yet he stopped when he saw that Piper was gone. "Oh well. I didn't want her money anyways."

He started to walk away when he saw two weapons on the ground, surrounded by what looked like pieces of bone. Before he could investigate further the bones pieces were swept into the air by an unknown wind. They whipped around into two columns, the pieces coming together to form ribs, joints, fingers, and the like, until two skeletons were standing before the farmer, who backed away with stuttering gasps.

The demonic skeletons picked up their weapons and the one with the mace moved towards the farmer. The skeleton swung and the farmer fell back onto the ground. Moments later the farmer's stutters were silenced, following the downward swing of the mace.

---

Phoebe entered the main office of the Bay Mirror, dressed in her Cinderella gown. White silk gloves covered her arms up to her elbows. Her brunette hair was pulled back into a loose bun. And the famous glass slippers adorned her feet, though they were actually plastic.

Elise, dressed as a witch and not looking happy about it, spotted Phoebe and made her way through the crowds of costumed kids and their parents. "Phoebe, thank god you're here."

"Well, you pretty much ordered me to be here," Phoebe said lowly.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." She turned and pointed to five children that stood together. "That's your group. All you have to do is take them out around town, keep them happy, and make sure they don't get killed. The lawsuit would be humongous."

"And that is the worst part about a kid getting killed. The lawsuit."

"Just have them back here by seven." Elise turned on her heel and stomped off towards one of Phoebe's coworkers who had also gotten stuck with this job.

"That costume sure fits her," Phoebe muttered as she walked over to her group. She smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Phoebe. Are you guys ready to have some fun tonight?" The kids nodded. Phoebe saw that one of the kids was dressed as a prince and said, "Hey, looks like Cinderella doesn't have to go to the ball alone tonight."

The kid made a face. "I don't have to kiss you, do I?"

Phoebe laughed. "No, you don't."

"Good. 'Cause I haven't gotten my cootie shot yet."

"Well you don't have to worry. I've got my own prince to kiss."

"Where's he?" asked a little girl dressed as a fairy.

"I'm not sure. But I'll be seeing him later tonight. Okay, so everyone grab their candy bags and let's get a move on." The kids screamed with glee and ran towards the exit. "Hey, no running!"

---

"Leo!" Piper called as she barreled into the manor.

"In the kitchen!" came the response.

Upon entering the kitchen Piper said, "I'm sick of demons!"

Leo, who was putting away groceries, said with concern, "Did the one from this morning attack again?"

"No."

"Okay..." Leo glanced at Piper's empty arms. "Did you get pumpkins?"

"No."

"Didn't have any you liked?"

"No, they didn't, but that's not the point here. I was attacked by two demons that looked like skeletons."

"Are you okay?" Leo asked, moving over to Piper to see if she was hurt.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I blew them up. I just hate how demons are always attacking us. And what is it going to be like when the baby comes? How are we supposed to raise a baby when demons are wrecking this place all the time?"

"Hey, calm down. We'll figure it all out then. But for now you have to focus on these demons."

"Why? I vanquished them."

Before Leo could respond, Paige came in through the back door. "Hey, hi, what's up?"

Piper frowned. "Why are you so perky?"

Paige shrugged. "No reason. But hey, I have some news. I totally whipped through all my work today and I got to leave early. But on the way home there was this report on the radio about a murder that just happened. This farmer guy was killed in a pumpkin patch. Police say it looks like he was killed with a mace. Now I don't really know of any normal people that walk around with a mace, so I think this could be demonic. So come on, we have some vanquishing to do!" Paige started towards the kitchen door.

"Wait, hold it," Piper said, getting Paige to halt her rapid walking. "Did you say a farmer was killed in a pumpkin patch with a mace?"

Paige nodded. "Yep. Mace. Dead farmer. Let's go!"

"Oh god," Piper wheezed, ignoring Paige. "I was in that pumpkin patch. And one of the skeleton demons had a mace."

"So you saw the farmer get killed?" Paige asked.

Piper shook her head. "No, he wasn't there when they attacked. And I blew them up, so how could they have killed him?"

"Well your power doesn't always vanquish demons," Leo said. "Even when it seems to."

"Okay, so we have to find a better way to vanquish them," Paige said, already leaving the room.

"Should we call Phoebe?" Leo asked.

"No, she's out doing that trick-or-treating thing. Paige and I can handle this."

"Do you want me to check with the Elders?"

"No, we don't need them. You just keep it up with the groceries. Oh, and can you go get some pumpkins for the club?"

"But—"

"No buts. I am not going to let a couple demons ruin this party." Piper then turned and went up to the attic after Paige.

---

"Okay guys," Phoebe said. "It's getting late, so we should probably be getting back."

"Nooo," the kids all moaned in unison.

Phoebe smiled. "Okay, we'll get this next house around the corner and then we're going back." The kids gave reluctant mutters of agreement. But as they turned the corner, the mutters turned into screams of terror. A skeleton stood on the sidewalk, brandishing an ax.

"Demon," Phoebe whispered. "Kids, stay back." She moved to meet the demon as it came at her and ducked as it swung the ax. Phoebe latched onto the demon's wrist with one hand and onto the ax with the other, wrenching the weapon out of the demon's grasp. Then with a well placed kick, the demon's head disconnected from the rest of his body and clattered to the ground.

"Cool!" several of the kids yelled. "That was awesome!"

Phoebe didn't say anything. Her eyes were still on the rest of the demon, which was still moving. It grabbed the ax from her and started swinging, not caring that its head was lying on the pavement several feet away.

"Kids," Phoebe started, backing away. "We are getting you back right now. I know you want to say thank you to the man for the cool show, but I think your parents are going to start worrying." And with that she grabbed up one of the smaller kids and started to run, the other kids following.

---

"Paige! Piper!" Phoebe made her way up to the attic. She held a washcloth in one hand and was pressing it against her chest. She found Paige and Piper standing at the Book of Shadows, Paige bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Hey," Paige said. "What's up?"

"What's up is that I was attacked by a demon," Phoebe said.

"Did it look like a skeleton and carry a mace or a sword?" Piper asked.

"Yes and no. It had an ax. But this demon was tough. I knocked its head off and it just kept coming."

"So what's with the washcloth?" Paige asked. "Did you get hit? Are you hurt? Do we have to call Leo to heal you?" She opened her mouth to call their Whitelighter, but Phoebe stopped her.

"No, I'm fine. It's just that when we were running back to the Bay Mirror, the little girl I was carrying threw up on me."

"Ew," Paige said. "That's gross. Babies are gross. Piper, you should rethink having this kid of yours, because it is going to be gross."

"No," Piper said. "And what is with you? Everything you say is very fast and you can't keep still. Are you drunk?"

"Nope, not drunk. Just had a lot of coffee today is all. Anyways, Phoebes, let's fill you in. These demons are called 'Skull demons'. They are henchmen type demons who have to be summoned by the demon that they will be working for. And they can't be vanquished. The only way to stop them is to vanquish the demon who summoned them."

"Okay," Phoebe said, nodding. "So who summoned them?"

"Probably the demon who attacked us this morning," Piper said.

"He said he would be back," Paige said, nudging Piper.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Wait, you were attacked this morning?" Phoebe asked, concern high in her voice and on her face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I had decided I didn't want to deal with it today and besides, you had your own problems."

"Yeah, but—"

"Look," Piper said firmly, "can we just deal with this? I have a party to run tonight and I know that I am already going to be late. Ray said he could handle it, but I still want to be there to make sure everything goes well."

"Okay then," Phoebe said. "Let's find this demon."

Piper nodded, already turning the pages of the Book. "Here he is," she said after a few minutes. "Zolta. Upper level demon, hundreds of years old, has the power to shoot lightning bolts."

"Is there a vanquish?" Paige asked, still bouncing on her feet and looking over her sister's shoulder.

"Yeah, Power of Three spell. And would you stop that? It's annoying the hell out of me."

"So how do we find him?" Phoebe asked. "We don't know what his intentions are, so we don't know where to look for him."

"His intentions are to kill us, obviously," Piper muttered.

"Yeah, but demons usually have a bigger plan in the mix than just killing us. Usually they just want to kill us because they have some big plan that they don't want us to stop."

"Phoebe's right," Paige said. "There's got to be something else on this demon's mind. Maybe the Elders know something. We should call Leo."

"No," Piper said. "He's out buying pumpkins."

Phoebe laughed. "Piper, come on. Pumpkins or demons. Which is the bigger issue here?"

Piper sighed. "Fine. Guess we wont have any jack-o-lanterns at the party tonight." She took in a breath and called for her husband, who orbed in a moment later. "We need you to go see if the Elders know what a demon by the name of Zolta could be up to. We need to find him, but without knowing what he's planning..."

Leo nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'll go see what I can find out." He orbed out.

"I'm going to go change," Phoebe said, already heading for the stairs. "Tell me when he gets back."

---

"So what did they say?" Paige asked when Leo had returned. She was sitting on the old couch in the attic, tossing a pillow in the air. Piper was at the Book, copying down the vanquishing spell. And Phoebe was just coming back into the room, now dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt and jeans.

"Well they said that Zolta is the kind of demon who tries to keep off of their radar. But rumors have it that he has been working for several years on a spell that will open a portal that will release demonic spirits into this world. The spell can only be done on Halloween and he has tried and failed several times already. But they think he might be able to do it this time. And if he succeeds..."

"Let me guess," Piper muttered. "Chaos?"

Leo nodded. "Yep."

"Of course." Piper set down her pen. "Well I have the spell here. Now where do we find him so we can use it?"

"He has to do the spell in a cemetery."

"Which one?" Phoebe asked. "We have quite a few."

"In the past he has always done the spell in the same cemetery. He'll probably stick with that one. It's the Cliver cemetery."

"Well then let's go!" Paige said, jumping up. "We go in, say a little rhyme, and bam! Dead demon."

"Right." Piper closed the Book of Shadows. "Well then, Ms. Perky, let's get a move on. Leo, I want you to go to the club. Make sure nothing goes wrong." She and Phoebe then took Paige's hands and the three of them orbed out.

---

"Now, once you free me, I can help you with your ritual. I've done several of them before, so I know I can help you with this one."

Zolta stood before the mirror with the shadowed figure in it, which was propped up against a tombstone. The three skull demons stood around him, keeping their guard up. The one with the ax had gotten his head back on.

"I hope you can. I've been trying to get this ritual right for years. I'm not going to fail again." He then started the spell, speaking in an ancient demonic language.

Not minutes after he had begun, the Charmed Ones orbed in. Zolta didn't stop the spell. If he did, he would have to start over. But he wasn't worried; the skull demons were already advancing on the three sisters.

Piper shot out her hands and blew one of the demons up. But before all the bone pieces had even settled on the ground, they began to reform. "Great, this is just great," Piper muttered as the fully formed demon came after her.

Less than twenty feet away, Phoebe had her own demon to deal with. It was the one with the ax. "So, we meet again," Phoebe said. "How's your head?" The demon responded by swing the ax. Phoebe levitated, avoiding the attack, and then kicked out, knocking off the demon's head once again. "You should really find a way to keep that thing on," Phoebe said, coming back down to the ground. She ducked another swing of the ax and gave a sweeping kick, taking the demon down.

"Paige!" Piper called to her sister, who was taking on the demon with the mace. "We have to take out Zolta to take out these guys!"

"Yeah, I know!" Paige called back, avoiding a swing of the mace.

"Well we can't get to him with these guys attacking us, so can you do something to send them away?"

Paige nodded. "Good idea." She held up her hand and called out, "Skull demons!" The three skull demons dissipated into orbs. "Ocean!" Paige yelled, waving her hand in the general direction of the ocean.

Once the skull demons were gone the sisters came to stand next to one another. They stood behind Zolta, who was just finishing the spell. A portal was opening. From inside it came a victorious roar.

"Okay, spell time," Piper said, pulling out the piece of paper with the spell on it. Just before she and her sisters were about to read it, Paige suddenly glowed and fell to the ground. "Paige!"

Phoebe knelt down next to Paige and felt for a pulse. "She's alive. She's..." Phoebe raised her eyebrows as Paige started to snore. "She's asleep."

"Asleep!" Piper yelled. "But we don't have time for this." Piper knelt down and shook her sister. "Paige, wake up!"

"Piper," Phoebe said. "Something's coming out of the portal."

Two large, reptile like, hands were reaching out of the portal. And scarlet eyes, burning with happiness, could be seen.

"What do we do?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know," Piper responded, panicking.

Zolta turned to them. "I won't let you stop me." He raised his hand to fire a lightning bolt, but Piper used her power first. The blast knocked Zolta into the air and sent him hurtling into the portal, slamming in to whatever was coming out. A scream of rage came from the portal, just before it closed.

"Wow, good thinking," Phoebe said.

"Thinking had nothing to do with it. I did it on instinct."

"Well it was good instinct." Phoebe looked down at Paige. "So what do we do about her?"

Piper sighed. "Let's call Leo so he can orb us home. We'll figure out what to do once we're there."

Phoebe nodded and knelt down next to her sleeping sister as Piper called for Leo.

---

Zolta looked around, trying to figure out where he was. He was obviously in another dimension, but he didn't know which. All he knew was that he was on a large, floating rock. A red sky was overhead and lightning lanced across it every few seconds.

A large shadow suddenly enveloped Zolta and he looked up to see the demon who he had been talking to in the mirror. He was filled with fear, just with the sight of the beast before him.

"You failed," the demon hissed. "You failed... so you die."

The last thing Zolta saw was a flash of fire.

---

"Paige, what were you thinking!"

They had finally been able to wake Paige up with a really stinky potion and were now all in the kitchen, giving Paige the third degree.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't stay awake at work and if I hadn't cast that spell then I might have gotten fired."

"And because you cast that spell we almost got killed," Piper said, crossing her arms.

Paige looked at Phoebe, pleadingly. "Will you help defend me?"

"Sorry, can't. If I try then Piper will get on me about all the personal gain spells I have cast."

"And remind you of the consequences," Piper said.

"Anyways," Phoebe said. "So your sugar rush spell had the affect that most sugar rushes have. It keeps you going for awhile, but it fades in a second and leaves you worse off than you were before."

Paige nodded and sipped the coffee they had given her. "Which is really bad when you're in the middle of fighting demons."

"Yes," Phoebe agreed. "But we got rid of the demons and all is well again."

"Everything may be well here, but what about at my party?" Piper said. "I sent Leo back there right away to keep an eye on things, but he's probably just sitting at the bar eating candy."

"I'm sure everything is fine at the party," Phoebe said. She got up from the table and continued, "But we should get over there. I told Cole I would meet him there. He said he has to talk to me about something."

"Oh, hope it isn't bad," Paige said.

"Yeah, me too. So, you going?"

Paige shook her head. "I think I am going to go catch up on some sleep."

"Okay. We'll see ya later."

---

Piper and Phoebe came down the steps of P3, stepping into a party that was in full swing.

"Well," Piper said, "everything seems fine... Oh no!"

"What?" Phoebe asked.

"I told Ray to put the cookies on the left side of the table and the punch on the right! I have to go sort this out."

Phoebe laughed as Piper rushed off. Looking around, Phoebe spotted Cole sitting at the bar, sipping on a drink. "Hi," she said, once she had made her way over.

"Hey. You look great."

"Thanks." Phoebe sat at the bar and ordered a drink for herself. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well I don't really know how to build up to it..."

"So don't. Just tell me."

Cole nodded and gulped down the rest of his drink. "Okay... I'm leaving."

"What!"

"Not for long," Cole said, holding up his hands to try and calm Phoebe. "Just for a little while."

"But... why?"

"I think I may have a lead on how to get rid of these powers."

"Really? Cole, that's great." She paused. "Wait, this isn't going to be dangerous, is it?"

"It... might be."

"Do you want me to come with you? I could get my sisters, too. The Power of Three to back you up."

Cole shook his head. "No, that's not needed. Really, most demons are afraid to go up against me now."

"Oh. So... when will you be back?"

"I'm not sure. But I'll come back as soon as I can. And when I do... I may very well be free of evil magic." Cole smiled, obviously excited about the idea.

Phoebe smiled too. "I love you." She kissed him, but the kiss was interrupted by a scream from the other side of the room.

"Red napkins! Red is for Valentines Day, this is Halloween. I told you to use the orange and black napkins!"

"I'm guessing that's Piper," Cole said.

"Who else? But ignore her and kiss me." The two smiled again and kissed each other, enjoying it since it would be their last for awhile.

**End of Episode Three: Halloween Horror**


	4. Episode Four: Remembrance

**Episode Four: Remembrance  
**  
Phoebe pushed open the old wooden door, making it creak as it swung on its hinges that hadn't been oiled in years. She yawned and pulled her robe tighter around her body. It was four in the morning and she would usually have been in bed. But she hadn't been sleeping well for the past few days, ever since Cole had left to find some way to get rid of his vast amount of demonic powers. She had almost drifted off when she had heard noises coming from the attic, so she had decided to investigate.

It was Piper. The older sister was sitting on the floor of the attic, surrounded by boxes. Phoebe made her way over and pushed aside a box, taking a seat next to Piper.

"Sweetie, what are you doing up here?" Phoebe asked.

Piper turned her head sharply, like she had just noticed that Phoebe was there. Phoebe saw that her sister's eyes were red, like she had been crying for quite some time.

"Do you know what day it is?" Piper asked, her voice a hoarse whisper, as she looked down at what she held in her hands. It was a piece of clothing.

Phoebe recognized it, for she had borrowed it from Prue several times. Glancing at the calendar on the wall, Phoebe suddenly knew exactly what Piper was doing in the attic at four in the morning. Moving closer to her older sister and putting her arms around her, Phoebe said, "Yeah. It's been exactly one year since Prue died."

Piper nodded. "I woke up at exactly midnight and had this horrible feeling in my chest. I couldn't figure it out, but then it suddenly hit me." Tears again began to fill Piper's eyes and her voice cracked when she spoke. "I couldn't believe that I had forgotten. I just had to come up here and look at all this stuff."

Phoebe looked around, seeing that all the boxes were filled with Prue's things. "I didn't know that you kept all of her stuff."

"I had to. I couldn't get rid of all of it." She sighed, a sigh that was filled with pain. "I know that keeping all this stuff is just holding on to something that isn't there. Not moving on. But I just couldn't get rid of her stuff, I couldn't..."

Phoebe pulled her sister in closer and hushed her. "I know, Piper, I know. It's okay. After she died I was going through some things that I had borrowed from her, thinking I should give them to Good Will or something. But I couldn't get rid of any of it. I mean, selling her car was hard enough." Phoebe smiled. "Sometimes I pull out some jewelry of her's and I remember her always yelling at me about how I took her things and never gave them back. Back then I would just roll my eyes and ignore her... but now it makes me happy remembering her voice. Even though it was angry, it was still her voice. And remembering it makes me happy."

"I can't remember," Piper whispered.

"What? Her yelling at me?"

"Not just that. Almost everything. I mean, I remember general stuff. But... I can't really think of any specific memories with her. It's all just sort of... a blur."

"Well," Phoebe said, remembering things from her psychology classes, "that's natural. After something tragic happens people sometimes block the event from their minds along with things linking to it. Prue died... horribly." Phoebe bit her lip, trying to keep long ago dried tears from returning. "So thinking of memories of her would really make you think of her and then make you think of her death and make you feel pain. So since you don't want to feel that pain you have blocked the memories that would lead to it."

Piper sighed again. "Maybe..." She sat up suddenly and started to gather up the things that she had pulled out of the boxes. "So should we do something?" she said, folding up a shirt and putting it neatly into a box.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked, standing up. She didn't help Piper put things away, knowing that her sister had probably organized the boxes in a certain way and her helping wouldn't really be helping.

"I mean, should we do something for the anniversary of Prue's death? Have a dinner or something... invite her friends? I could cook Prue's favorite meal and-"

Phoebe shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Prue wouldn't want us to make something big about it. I mean, she hated it when we threw her a birthday party."

"But... just ignoring it doesn't seem right."

"We aren't ignoring it. We love Prue. And wherever she is... she knows that. And she wouldn't want us to remember that horrible day. She would just want us to remember all the good times. That day... was not a good time."

Piper gave a dry smile. "I know."

"So what is the point of remembering it?" Phoebe continued. "Or having some dinner for it? Let's remember Prue in a good way. And we can do that any day we want to."

Piper nodded. "You're right. Prue wouldn't want us to remember a day like that."

"Yeah," Phoebe said. "Now let's try to get some sleep." Phoebe turned and left the attic.

Once Phoebe was gone Piper looked down at all the boxes of her older sister's things. "I just wish I could remember something other than that day."

-x-

Even though she had barely gotten any sleep, Piper was up early, making breakfast for the family. Using a spatula she scooped a pancake out of the frying pan and set it on a large plate, completing a small stack of the breakfast food.

Piper switched off the burner and then picked up the plate, carrying it over to the table. As she proceeded to get out syrup and butter, Phoebe came into the kitchen.

"That smells delicious," Phoebe said with a yawn. The middle sister flopped down on one of the chairs and put her head down. "But how can you be cooking something like that? With the amount of sleep we got it's a cereal morning. The only breakfast really tired people can make without having to pay attention to it. Except when pouring the milk."

Piper shrugged as she set down a plate and utensils in front of Phoebe. "Cooking helps wake me up."

Phoebe immediately stabbed a pancake with her fork and dropped it on her plate. As she began to dribble syrup over it, she said, "Well, if it was me, I would have burned the pancakes with how tired I am."

"You would have burned them even if you were fully awake," Piper said with a smirk. She sat down and put a pancake on her own plate.

Phoebe mirrored her sister's smirk. "Yeah, I know, I can't cook. But you don't have to keep throwing that in my face." Phoebe stood up from the table and went over to the coffee pot to fill up a mug of the steaming liquid. She took a gulp of the coffee and almost spit it back out. "Oh, god! Why did you make the coffee so strong?"

Piper shrugged meekly. "That's the way Prue always liked to drink it..."

"Well, sweetie, Prue had a stomach made of steel," Phoebe said with a light smile.

"I know what you said last night, but I just had to do something in remembrance of her."

Phoebe nodded. "I understand." She then proceeded to pour her coffee down the drain. "But I just can't drink that stuff. Is it okay if I make another pot?"

Piper nodded. "I can't drink it either," she said with a small laugh. "I tired earlier and almost spit it out on the newspaper I was reading."

Phoebe laughed as she filled up the new pot with water. "Yeah, I never understood how Prue could drink that stuff. But it did keep her going the whole day." She returned to the table to wait for the new coffee to brew. After putting another pancake on her plate she asked, "So where's Leo? Still sleeping?"

Piper shook her head. "No, he left almost right after getting up. Said something about a charge that he has been having a lot of trouble with lately, but that's all he could tell me."

Phoebe nodded as she swallowed. "Whitelighter confidentiality."

"Exactly."

Paige came into the kitchen just then, with a bounce in her step. She hummed as she made her way over to the fresh pot of coffee, pouring herself a large mug. "Good morning," she said.

"Morning," Piper said, eyeing her sister. "Why are you so chipper? You didn't cast another spell to keep you awake, did you? Because you know what happened last time."

"No, I didn't cast a spell. I'm just like this because I actually got a full night of sleep. So I'm rested and ready to start the day."

"Guess you're the only one," Phoebe mumbled, glancing at Piper.

"You two didn't get any sleep?" Paige asked. "Why not?"

"Well," Piper started, "do you know what day it is?"

Paige bit her lip. "Arbor day?"

Piper sighed. "No, Paige, that's in April. Guess again."

Paige shrugged. "I don't know. Look, Piper, as much as I would love to play this game with you, I have to get to work. I'll just take one of those pancakes to go."

Phoebe gave her little sister a quizzical look. "How do you take a pancake to go?"

"Like so." Paige then proceeded to take a ziplock bag, place a pancake in it, and pour in a good amount of syrup. She extracted a plastic fork from the utensil drawer and dropped it into her purse that sat on the counter. "And that concludes today's lesson. See you later tonight."

Phoebe laughed as Paige left. "That's actually a good idea. I should try it sometime when I'm late for work." She then caught sight of Piper's look. "Honey, what's wrong?"

"She had no clue," Piper said. "She had no clue what day it was."

"Oh, Piper, don't blame her."

"Why not? It's just before her anniversary of becoming a witch. You'd think she would remember that, so you'd think she would remember this too."

"Well, I remember a certain someone not remembering their own anniversary of becoming a witch," Phoebe said, eyeing Piper.

Piper snorted. "That was different."

"How so?" After getting no response, Phoebe continued. "The days get very mixed up when you have the kind of lives we do. And Paige has a lot on her plate right now, with being a new social worker. She can't be expected to remember everything, even those two big dates."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Piper said. "Besides... she never even met Prue, so I guess her death wouldn't have as much of an impact on her."

"Don't say that," Phoebe said, shaking her head. "I think it had a huge impact on her. Just think of how it would be to find out you had a sister, but you didn't find out soon enough and she died before you could meet her. Not being able to know Prue probably hurts Paige a lot."

Piper nodded, but didn't say anything. After a moment she got up and started to clear away the plates. "I better clean up."

"And I better get to work," Phoebe said with a glance at her watch. She rose from her chair and went over to the sink, opening the cabinet underneath it. "But first I think I am going to try Paige's idea," she said with a laugh, pulling out ziplock bag.

-x-

"Okay, not my best idea," Paige grumbled as she tried to eat her pancake out of the ziplock bag and steer her VW bug at the same time. "Oh, thank god," she said as the light ahead of her turned red. She put her foot on the brake and started to eat, now able to use both hands.

As she chewed, Paige looked around her at the people outside of her car. She always wondered what was going on in other people's lives. The ones sitting in their own cars, or walking down the sidewalks on the street all had their own problems to deal with. A woman in the car to Paige's left seemed to be having an argument on her cell phone. Hopefully it's nothing serious, Paige thought.

She wondered what people thought when they looked at her. Did they think, "That there is a witch"? Doubtful. But still, Paige thought, I have this whole life full of secrets that no one knows about. She just thought it was so weird that people could pass one another on the street without knowing anything about each other. A man in the car to her right was giving her a coy smile. He's probably thinking he would like to get with me, by that smile of his.

Her gaze then moved to a young woman that was walking on the sidewalk. She was dressed in clothes that looked like they hadn't been washed in days. Her hair, mangled as it was, seemed to be the same way. Something about the woman made Paige keep watching her.

The woman reached the intersection and pressed the button on the stoplight that would light up the "walk" sign. The moment her finger touched the button the stoplight began to go crazy. The lights flashed between the three colors, confusing drivers and almost causing several accidents.

Even as sparks flew from the stoplight, Paige kept her eyes on the woman. Electrical energy was streaming from the "walk" button and into the finger that was pressed against it. The woman finally snapped back her hand and whipped her head around to see if anyone had noticed. Paige believed she herself was the only one, since she had been watching the woman in the first place.

The woman, with a frightened look on her face, ran off around the corner. The lights had now returned to normal and shown green for Paige. Without thinking, she whipped her steering wheel to the right and shot around the corner, cutting off the man in the car who had given her the smile. "He now probably just thinks I'm a bitch," Paige mumbled.

She saw the woman turn into an alley and pulled her car over, parking it and turning off the engine. Paige got out of the car and ran into the alley. "Wait!" she called.

The woman stopped and turned. "Stay away from me!" she screamed.

Paige slowed down and held up her hands in a peaceful gesture. "I saw what happened."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I just want to help."

"I don't need your help. Just go away!" The woman turned to run again, but skidded to a halt as the air in front of her shimmered and two men dressed in black suits appeared.

"Amanda," one said. "You got away from us. That wasn't the smartest thing, running away. I think you should come back with us. Delnar isn't in a good mood."

"I'm not going back," the woman, Amanda, said, backing away from the men, whom Paige knew must be demons.

"You don't have a choice," the other demon said.

"I think she does," Paige said, moving up beside Amanda.

"Who the hell are you?" the first demon asked.

"Someone you don't want to mess with."

The demon smiled as he conjured an energy ball. "Oh yeah?"

He whipped the energy ball at Paige, but she held up her hand and called for it, throwing it back at the demon as it began to rematerialize in her hand. The demon exploded as his own attack hit him square in the chest. "Yeah," Paige said with a smile.

"Witch!" the second demon yelled. He moved towards her, but Paige called for a metal trash bin that sat against the alley wall and sent it flying into the demon, knocking him to the pavement.

"Okay, we have to get out of here," Page said, turning around. Yet the alley behind her was empty; Amanda was gone.

"You are in way over your head, witch."

Paige turned around as the demon, who was now back on his feet, addressed her.

"If you want to live, you'll stay away from Amanda. She's ours." And with that, the demon shimmered out.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Paige said, already making her way back to her car.

-x-

"You're distracted."

"Hmm?" Phoebe looked up to see Elise standing in front of her desk. "Oh, Elise! Hey. I was... just..."

"Point positive." The editor sighed as she crossed her arms. "You have been this way for the past several days, Phoebe. It shows up in your column too."

Phoebe frowned. "What does?"

"Whatever it is that is bothering you," Elise said. "Your answers to your readers over the past few days have been... well, not you. I don't know what's wrong, and frankly, I don't care." Elise moved forward and plated her palms on Phoebe's desk, leaning in. "When I hired you for this job you were witty. Compassionate. You didn't sound judgmental with your answers. Now you better get that back fast, or I may regret having hired you. Are we clear?"

Phoebe nodded. "Crystal."

"Good." Turning on her heeled shoe, Elise exited the office, closing the door behind her.

Phoebe let out a breath and opened a drawer of her desk, pulling out a framed photo of Cole. "This is your fault, you know that?"

Phoebe knew that Elise was right. She had been off; in her writing... in everything. She was worried about Cole, wondering where he was and if he was okay. Worried about what would happen when he came back. Would he have found a way to get rid of all those demonic powers? Or would they be right back where they started?

"I don't even know if it's worth it," Phoebe whispered to the photo. "If you can't get rid of those powers... it's only a matter of time before something happens. And even if you do..." She sighed. "We all know what happened last time you were human."

She looked at the ring that was on her finger, remembering what she had said to Cole just recently, about love. Could love really conquer all? Would it be enough to save their relationship?

The sudden ringing of her phone tore Phoebe from her thoughts. She put the photo of Cole back into the desk and picked up the phone receiver off its cradle. "Hello, Phoebe Halliwell speaking."

"Phoebe, it's Paige."

Phoebe instantly noticed the tone in Paige's voice. It meant trouble. "Paige, what's wrong?"

"I think we have an innocent to save. Can you meet me back at the manor?"

Phoebe bit her lip and looked out of her office window. She could see Elise standing in front of someone else's desk, giving them their own talking to. "Uh, I don't know if I can. Elise just threatened my job and..."

"She did? Why?"

"Well she sort of did, because... Okay, never mind. I'll come home right now. Are you there already?"

"No," Paige said. "I'm on my way, though."

"Okay, I'll see you soon." Phoebe hung up and then grabbed up a few letters, hoping that she would be able to work on her column at home while she and her sisters dealt with whatever problem there was.

She snuck quietly out of her office, trying to keep out of sight of Elise. Just as she reached the main office door Elise yelled out her name. Phoebe slowly turned around as Elise came towards her.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Uh... lunch?"

Elise's face was as cold as stone. "It's not even ten in the morning."

"I didn't have breakfast, though," Phoebe lied.

"I saw you eating a pancake out of a ziplock bag when you came in here."

"Me? That's just... uh... Okay, the truth is that my sister has an emergency that she needs help with. But I have letters, see? And I promise to have my column done and in before the deadline."

"You better."

"I will. Okay, bye!" Phoebe turned and ran out of the office before anything else could be said.

-x-

The house was quiet.

Piper sat in the living room, trying to read a book. But it was just too quiet for her to concentrate, as crazy it seemed. She had thought that having some peace would allow her to relax. Yet she realized that she didn't like the silence. The noise that usually filled the house brought comfort to her. It meant there was a family in the house.

"A family that will have a new member very soon," Piper said to herself, patting her stomach.

A stab of pain suddenly hit her in the heart as she realized that Prue would never meet her child. That thought sent her mind reeling back to her lost sister.

Piper closed her book and set it down on a table next to the couch. She pushed herself up and headed for the attic. Reaching it, she moved over to the boxes that she had been going through early that morning. There was one that she had not gotten to and she dropped down next to it, lifting the cardboard panels.

Tears almost burst from her eyes again as she saw the item that sat on top. A golden necklace was placed on top of a folded leather jacket, with Prue's name on the necklace.

Lifting it by its chain, she dangled the necklace in front of her, letting out a pained sigh. "Why can't I remember?"

What Phoebe said about her blocking the memories came back to her and she stood up, heading over to the Book of Shadows with the necklace still in her hand.

"It would probably take months of therapy to unblock those memories," she said, flipping through the Book. "But I'm a witch and there must be some magical way I can do it."

After almost a half-hour of searching she found several pages that dealt with memory, but nothing that could help her. Pushing a hand through her hair, she said, "I've come up with my own spells before. I can do it again."

Once she had come up with a spell, Piper lit a candle and dangled Prue's necklace over the flickering flame. "By the magic of this flame, focus your power on this golden name. Years of memories I wish to see again, before our Charmed destiny had set in."

The flame of the candle sprang up and engulfed the necklace, but Piper's fingers remained untouched. A cold wind blew through the room, whipping Piper's hair, but she kept her eyes focused on the flame.

A moment later the flame receded and went out, a spiral of smoke being all that was left. The smoke, however, did not fade. It seemed to take on a life of its own, crawling up through the air, Piper's gaze following it the whole way. When it was several feet above Piper's head, the smoke began to write something in the air.

Piper said the letters as they appeared. "P... R... U... E."

As she uttered the last letter, the smoke shot down towards her and entered her body through her nose. Piper stumbled backwards, coughing. Her body then suddenly went rigged and she dropped, sprawling on the floor, her eyes closed.

Downstairs the front door opened and Phoebe and Paige entered, having both pulled up to the manor at the same time.

"So you think she's a witch?" Phoebe asked, Paige having already filled her in on the Amanda situation.

"Yeah," Paige said, closing the door and slipping off her jacket. As she hung it on the coat hook she continued, "I mean, she obviously have powers and demons are after her. What else could she be?"

Phoebe shrugged. "She could be any number of things. Maybe even a demon herself. But for now I agree with you, she's probably a witch."

"And we have to find her," Paige said, making her way towards the stairs. "Before those demons find her."

Phoebe followed Paige up the stairs. "The house is so quiet. Where do you think Piper is?"

"I don't know," Paige said as they started up the stairs that led to the attic. "Hope she didn't leave, because I think we are going to need all three of us for thi--" Paige stopped short as she entered the attic and saw Piper laying on the floor.

"Oh, god, Piper!" Phoebe yelled, running past Paige and kneeling down next to her older sister. "She's still breathing," Phoebe said, checking her sister over.

"What do you think happened?" Paige asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "I don't know."

"What's that?" Paige asked, pointing to something that was clutched in Piper's right hand.

Phoebe took the item from Piper's hand and held it up. "It's an old necklace of Prue's."

"What was she doing with it?"

Phoebe shrugged as she stood up, looking around for any sign of what could have happened. "She probably just wanted to look at Prue's things some more."

"Some more? When was she looking at them before?"

"At about four this morning. She told me she wanted to look at Prue's things when she realized that today is the anniversary of Prue's death."

"It is?" Paige thought about it in her head. "Oh god, it is. So that's what she was talking about at breakfast. How could I have been so stupid?"

"It's not your fault, Paige." She stopped and sniffed the air. "Is that smoke?" She glanced around and saw a candle on the table that Piper was laying next to. After feeling the wick she said, "It's warm."

"You think she was casting a spell?" Paige asked.

"Maybe," Phoebe said, looking back down at Piper. "We should call Leo."

Paige nodded and called out for their Whitelighter.

"What is it?" Leo asked after orbing in. "I'm busy."

"Too busy for your unconscious wife?" Phoebe said, nodding down at Piper.

Leo kneeled down next to his wife. "What happened?"

"We don't know," Paige said with a shrug. "We came home and found her like this. But that candle on the table was lit recently, so we think she might have cast a spell."

Leo tried to heal Piper, but nothing happened. "I'll go check with the Elders. See if they can tell us anything."

"Doubt it," Paige muttered as Leo orbed out. "Okay, I better get scrying for Amanda."

"Shouldn't we have told Leo about her?" Phoebe asked.

"He's got a lot on his plate right now. And I don't need his help to scry," Paige said, getting out the map and scrying crystal.

Phoebe knelt back down next to Piper. "I hope Leo finds something out soon. I hate not knowing what's wrong with her."

-x-

Piper bolted up in bed. Her hair clung to her sweat soaked neck.

"What the? Was that whole day a dream?" Piper looked around and frowned. "What am I doing in Paige's room? And why is all my stuff in here?" She knew that Paige liked doing practical jokes, but this was a little extreme. "What did she do, teleorb everything from one room to the other?" she wondered out loud, still looking around.

Glancing at the clock she saw it was late. She would deal with Paige in the morning.

But first I need something to drink, Piper thought, getting out of the bed. She went out of the room and down the stairs. When she reached the landing she knew something was definitely wrong. The door to what used to be the nursery was gone. The window that had been there before was back.

"This joke has gone way too far," Piper hissed, turning and stomping back up the stairs. She went to the room that Paige was most likely in, Piper's own room, and slammed her fist on the door. "Paige!"

The door opened. But it wasn't Paige. It was Prue.

"Piper? What is wrong? Who is Paige?" Piper backed up against the wall. Tears began to leak from her eyes. "Piper, honey, what is it? Are you ok?"

Prue pulled Piper into her room and Piper caught a glance of herself in the mirror. She gasped. She saw her reflection... but it was the one that she had seen everyday five years ago. The first year she had become a witch.

Prue pulled Piper onto her bed. "Honey... what's wrong?"

"No... you're dead," Piper said through her tears. She didn't get it. This all must be a dream. It wasn't real. It couldn't be real.

"What? Piper I am right here. Why are you crying?"

Piper got off the bed. "This must be something like when the Source made me think I was in a nut house... this isn't real. This has to be a spell or--" She stopped, a look of realization replacing the tears on her face. "The spell. It worked. But not the way I intended it to..."

Prue stared at her sister with a confused look on her face. "A spell? Piper... I think that you are not getting enough sleep. Now you should go to bed. You have that audition at Quake tomorrow, remember?"

"Quake?" Piper remembered the restaurant. "So the spell sort of did what I said. This is before P3... before everything."

"P3? Is that some kind of a parking lot?" Prue got up and took Piper's arm. "Come on. Let's get you back to bed."

"Um... that's okay. You go back to bed. I'm just going to go up to the attic to check on something." Piper shook off Prue's hand and then left the room, hurrying up to the attic.

She knew that she had to get to the Book of Shadows. This was the night that they got their powers and she remembered that Phoebe had stayed up reading the Book all night in the attic after she and Prue and gone to bed.

"Maybe the Phoebe here can help me," Piper said to herself as she reached the top of the stairs.

The door to the attic was closed. She tried the knob, but it wouldn't budge. The door was locked. "Why is the door locked?"

Prue came up behind her and sighed. "Piper, that door has been locked ever since Grams died. You know that."

"No... Phoebe came home and she came up here and got it open. Then she read from the Book of Shadows and gave us our powers."

"What? Book of Shadows? Powers? And Phoebe is in New York."

Piper started to sweat. "She came back though. The night before my audition she came back."

Prue took Piper's arm again and took her back down to Piper's room. "It's okay... now get some rest, sweetie. You have a big day tomorrow and you need sleep. A lot of sleep." Prue left the room and closed the door behind her.

Piper got into bed. "I'm sure Phoebe came back the night before my audition." She sighed as she pulled the covers up to her chin. "Okay, the spell sent me here for a reason, so I might as well just go along with it and see what happens." Yawning, she rolled over and was soon asleep.

-x-

Phoebe tapped her chin, trying to come up with an answer for the letter she had chosen to use for her column. Shaking her head, she closed her laptop. "I can't do it."

"Can't do what?" Paige asked. The youngest sister was still scrying for Amanda.

"I can't concentrate on my column while my sister is laying unconscious on the floor. What's taking Leo so long?"

The Whitelighter in question suddenly orbed in.

"Never mind," Phoebe said.

"What did you find out?" Paige asked, setting down the scrying crystal.

"She did cast a spell," Leo said. "The Elders aren't sure why she was doing it, but they say that the spell created an entirely new reality. And that Piper is there now."

"Okay," Phoebe said. "How do we get her out?"

"We don't," Leo responded. "The Elders said that she created the reality and only she can get herself out of it."

"So there's nothing we can do?" Paige asked.

Leo shook his head. "Nothing. Don't worry, though. Piper created that reality for a reason. She must be looking for an answer to something. So once she finds it... she should come back. Call me when she does."

Phoebe frowned. "Wait, you're leaving?"

"I have to. One of my other charges is in trouble. And there's nothing I can do for Piper."

Paige nodded. "You're right. You should go help your other charge."

"What about Amanda?" Phoebe asked.

"Who's Amanda?" Leo asked, looking from Phoebe to Paige.

"She's a witch," Paige said. "At least we think she is. I was on my way to work and saw her at a stoplight. When she touched the 'walk' button the whole thing went crazy. I followed her and we ran into some demons. They seem to be after her."

"Where is she now?"

Paige shrugged. "She disappeared when I was fighting the demons. I've been trying to find her by scrying, but... no luck yet."

"Do you need me to stay here?" Leo asked.

"No," Paige said, shaking her head. "I don't think we need your help yet. Right now we just need to find her."

Leo nodded. "Okay. Call if you do need help." He then orbed out.

"Guess I should keep scrying," Paige said.

Phoebe got up from where she was sitting and went to stand next to her sister. "You told me before that it looked like she was draining the energy from the stoplight, right?"

Paige nodded. "Right. So?"

"So maybe that's her power. To absorb energy."

"And that helps us find her... how?"

"All that energy would be hard to hide," Phoebe said. "So maybe you should scry for large amounts of unnatural energy."

"Worth a shot," Paige said, picking up the crystal once again. After a few minutes it landed on the map. "I hope that's her. Let's get going."

"Wait," Phoebe said. "What about Piper?"

"Leo said there's nothing we can do for her."

"Yeah, but we can't just leave her here," Phoebe said. "If a demon attacks she would be a sitting duck."

Paige nodded. "You're right. Let's put a protective circle of crystals around her. That should keep anyone unwanted out."

Phoebe went and took the crystals out of the box they kept them in and proceeded to place them in a circle around Piper's unconscious form. "Okay, done."

"All right then. Let's go find ourselves a witch."

Paige took Phoebe's hand and orbed them both out.

-x-

Piper opened her eyes. It was morning. An insistent knocking was coming from her door, obviously being what had woken her. Piper got up and looked in the mirror, seeing herself from five years ago. "Still here," she said.

The knocking continued. "Piper!" came Prue's call. "Are you up? You're going to be late!"

Piper cleared her throat. "I'm up! I'll... I'll be right out!" She sighed. "What is the point of this spell?" she muttered to herself. "To unblock the memories by seeing a living, breathing Prue?" She had to admit, she was extremely happy to see Prue again, even though it was just a spell.

She entered the kitchen a few minutes later and Prue looked up from the table. She had been reading the paper. "Hey. Do you feel better this morning?"

"Uh, yeah. I do."

"Good. Because you were acting so weird last night. I thought you had gone insane."

"Well, you were right. I was just so strung out about my audition." She went over to the fridge and opened it, pulling out items to make some breakfast.

"Oh no you don't," Prue said. "I know that you need something to eat, but you can grab something after your audition." Prue got up and took the carton of milk that Piper held and put it back in the fridge. "Now get moving, missy. You have been obsessed with wanting this job. You are not going to ruin it for yourself and then cry about it for the rest of your life. Now go."

Piper had to stop herself from smiling. She had forgotten how bossy Prue had been. She missed it.

"Okay, I'm going," Piper said, grabbing up her purse. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," Prue said, sitting back down.

-x-

Paige and Phoebe orbed into a dim apartment. The curtains were drawn and the only light in the room was coming from several candles that were placed around the apartment.

"Strange," Paige said, looking around. "Maybe the power is out."

"Maybe," Phoebe answered. She started to walk slowly around the apartment. "Do you think we got the right place?"

Paige looked towards the bathroom as the door opened and Amanda came out. "Yeah, I think we did."

"You," Amanda said. "How did you get in here!"

"Okay, Amanda, just calm down," Paige said. "I'm here to help."

"I don't need your help. Now get out!"

"We know that demons are after you, Amanda," Phoebe said. "Please, if you let us help we can stop them."

Amanda shook her head. "You can't stop them. They're too powerful."

"We have some powers of our own," Paige said. "We're witches."

A look of relief came over Amanda's face. "Oh... Thank god. When I first saw you fight that demon I thought you were a demon yourself. I thought you were after me too."

"So you're a witch too?" Phoebe asked.

Amanda nodded. "I just found out about my powers recently. I had always believed in magic... but never thought that I could be a witch."

"Why are those demons after you?" Paige asked.

Before Amanda could answer, five demons shimmered into the small apartment. One of them was the one Paige had met before in the alley.

"You again," he said. "You can't stop us from taking her."

"Wanna bet? Sofa!" Paige orbed the sofa that was in the room and sent it crashing into the demons, knocking two down and pinning the rest against the far wall. Though it wouldn't hold them for long.

Phoebe kicked a demon who was trying to get up in the face, then bent down to pull an athame from his belt. She stabbed it down into the demon, pulled it back out, and stepped back as flames consumed him. Pulling back her arm, she whipped it at another one of the demons. It plowed into his chest and he erupted in flames a moment later.

"Let's get out of here!" Paige yelled. She grabbed Amanda by the arm and pulled her over to Phoebe. The three of them orbed out, just as two of the demons sent energy balls flying at them.

-x-

Piper stood in Quake's kitchen making her audition meal. She was working quickly because she knew what was going to happen. She had to add the Port wine before Chef Moore came in to taste the meal.

"... Where's the port?" she said to herself. She looked around and couldn't see it anywhere. "Oh no..."

"Your time is up." Chef Moore entered the kitchen. "Let's see..." He picked up an index card. "Roast pork with gratin of fennel and penne with a port giblet sauce." Chef Moore picked up a fork and Piper started to panic.

"Chef Moore..."

"What?"

"Uh, the port..."

"Yes, without it the sauce it is nothing more than a salty marinara. A recipe from a woman's magazine. Puh!"

"I don't have--" Chef Moore held up his hand to silence her. He then took some of her meal and put it on the fork. He moved it up to his mouth and Piper waved her hands to freeze him. He didn't stop. He put the food in his mouth and began to chew.

"And this is exactly what I just said. Where is the port!"

Piper stared at her hands. "Where are my powers? ... Oh right."

"What are you talking about? You know, I thought you had some potential. You disgust me! Get out of my kitchen!"

Piper nodded and ran out.

-x-

"Okay, we've established that demons are after you," Paige said after she, her sister, and Amanda had orbed into the attic. "Why?"

"They want me for my powers," Amanda said. She stopped as she saw Piper laying on the floor. "Um... Why is she on the floor?"

"Oh, ignore her," Phoebe said. "She's our sister... and our other problem. But we're concentrating on you right now."

Amanda looked confused, but said, "Okay..."

"So what are your powers?" Paige asked.

"Well... I'll just show you." She went over to the light switch and flipped it on, keeping her hand on the switch. The lights flickered and sparked and energy streamed from the light switch and into Amanda. After a few moments she let go of the switch and the lights went back to normal.

"So you can absorb energy," Phoebe said. "We thought so. But why would the demons want you for that?"

"Because of this." Amanda raised her hand, aiming at an old pillow that sat on a dresser. Her palm glowed a bright white and a blast of white energy shot from it, destroying the pillow on contact.

Paige and Phoebe watched as feathers from the pillow floated to the floor.

"Oh," Phoebe said. "I see."

Amanda nodded. "I can absorb energy... and I can also release it. I just can't really control it. I can't stop myself from absorbing the energy of something when I touch it--"

"Guess that's why all the lights were off at your apartment," Paige said.

Amanda nodded and continued. "I also can't control the releasing of the energy very well."

"You seemed to just now," Phoebe said.

"Yeah, I meant that I can't keep the energy in me for that long. If I had waited awhile that energy would have come out on its own. That's what happened when I first got my powers. I absorbed some energy without knowing it, thinking the lights were just on the fritz. Then later, without warning... bam, broken lamp."

"When did the demons first capture you?" Paige asked.

"A few days ago," Amanda said. "They just appeared in my apartment and grabbed me. The next thing I knew I was in some warehouse. They put me in a cage, but I was able to escape yesterday."

"How?" Paige asked.

"I always keep batteries in my pocket. You know, for emergencies and stuff. I remembered I had them and so I absorbed their energy. It was enough to break the lock on the cage and I escaped. But now they are after me."

"Still," Phoebe said. "Why do they really want you?"

"Maybe they want to turn her," Paige suggested. "That whole forty-eight hour window thing that the Source used to try to get me."

Phoebe shook her head. "No, I don't think that's it. Amanda, you got your powers... when?"

"About a week ago," Amanda said.

"So the forty-eight hour window is closed," Phoebe said.

Paige nodded. "Right."

"I think I know why they took me," Amanda said, drawing the sisters' attention. "I heard them talking with someone named Delnar. I think he's their leader. Delnar said something about wanting to get me to a place called the Underworld so they could make sure I wouldn't escape. Luckily he said he would have to prepare for me and I escaped that night."

"Very lucky," Paige said. "Go on."

"I also heard them talking about their plan for me. I couldn't hear very well, but I think that I heard them say that they wanted to use me to drain the power of a nuclear reactor at the local power plant. I have no idea why, though."

"I know why," Phoebe said. "You said you can't control the absorbing of energy. So they could just make you hold onto the reactor, thus forcing you to absorb the energy. You also said that it's only a matter of time before the energy is released and you can't stop it from being released."

"Oh my god..." Paige said, catching on to what her sister was saying. "They want to make you into a bomb."

-x-

Piper's cell phone began to ring just as she was pulling into the manor's driveway. She snatched it up once she was parked and answered.

"Hello?"

"Piper, hey, it's Jeremy."

Piper almost dropped the phone when she heard who it was. She knew that Jeremy was actually a warlock, just pretending to be her boyfriend until she and her sisters got their powers. Then he would try to kill them and steal their powers.

Well, too bad for him, Piper thought. Without Phoebe we don't get our powers.

"Jeremy... hi. What's up?" Piper asked, trying to sound casual.

"I'm just parked outside Quake right now, waiting for you to come out so I can congratulate you on your new job."

Piper remembered that. He had then taken her out for chinese, followed by a romantic evening of trying to kill her.

"Um, I'm not at Quake," Piper said.

"Oh. Well did you get the job?" Jeremy asked.

"No, I didn't."

"Why not?"

The idiot didn't freeze, Piper thought. But she said, "I forgot the Port that you gave me. After the chef tasted the sauce without it... he threw me out of his kitchen."

"Oh, Piper, I'm sorry," Jeremy said.

Yeah right, Piper thought, rolling her eyes.

"I want to do something to cheer you up," Jeremy continued. "Where are you?"

"I'm..." Piper said slowly, not wanting to tell him where she was. She doubted that he would attack her with him knowing that she didn't yet have her powers. But still, she didn't want to be with him, knowing what he was.

"I'm just driving around, trying to clear my head," she continued.

"Do you want to meet somewhere?"

"Well-- Oh, tunnel coming up. I'll meet you--" She cut the line. With a sigh Piper dropped the phone into her purse and got out of the car, heading up the stairs to the manor.

She found Prue in the kitchen, her sister just sitting at the table, staring at a carrot stick in her hand.

"Uh... Prue?"

Prue jumped, dropping her carrot stick. "Piper. You startled me."

"Yeah... Sorry I interrupted your intimate conversation with your carrot stick," Piper said with a small smile as she sat down at the table.

"What? Oh. I was going to eat it, but then it reminded me of Roger's skinny neck and I just was imagining his neck snapping." With that, she grabbed up the carrot stick and snapped it in half, throwing the pieces down onto the table.

"Okay, what happened?" Piper asked. Truth be told, she knew exactly what had happened, since Prue had told her once before. But she couldn't very well tell this Prue that.

"I quit my job today," Prue said.

"Why?" Piper asked, trying to sound surprised.

"Roger stole an exhibit from me and I just couldn't take it anymore. I used to think that job was my calling, but now..." She shook her head. "Anyways, I'm done with that museum and I'm done with Roger." She looked up at Piper. "By the way, did you get the job at Quake?"

Piper sighed. "Um... no. I forgot the Port that Jeremy gave me."

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry," Prue said, laying a comforting hand on Piper's arm. Her face then stiffened. "Oh no... That means neither of us has a job. How are we going to support ourselves and pay for this house?"

"Uh, well, we'll figure it out," Piper said.

"Not without draining all our savings first trying to pay the bills." Prue got to her feet and picked up her purse off the counter.

"Where are you going?" Piper asked.

"I'm going to go talk to Roger. See if he will give me my job back. After how I left him I think he'll be desperate for some help."

"Prue, you can't," Piper said. "That job is not for you. Especially since Roger is your boss. Don't get yourself back into that."

"Well, you didn't get that job... So I have to." Prue then left through the back door.

"Oh, this sucks," Piper moaned, leaning back in her chair.

-x-

"A bomb?" Amanda repeated, staring at Paige. "Why would they want to make me into a bomb? They have powers that can kill already."

"Yeah, but that's only one at a time," Paige said. "This would be able to cause mass murder."

Phoebe nodded. "Right now the Underworld--"

"What's that?" Amanda interrupted.

"Where the demons live," Phoebe said. "Right now it is in chaos. Last year we vanquished the their leader, the Source of All Evil."

"Several times, I might add," Paige chimed in.

"Okay, can I finish?" Phoebe said, giving her sister a look.

"Sorry. Go on."

"Thank you. Anyways, without a leader the demons create factions to try and gain power. They also work to gain respect from the rest of the Underworld, to prove that they have the right to be the next Source. One way to gain that respect is to kill innocents." From Amanda's blank look, Phoebe added, "Mortals."

"Oh," Amanda said. "So with me... they could kill a lot of innocents and gain a lot of respect."

Paige nodded. "They could also use you as a weapon against other demons who are in competition with them."

Amanda shuddered at the thought of her being used as a weapon for demons. "So what do we do?"

"First we should vanquish Delnar," Paige said.

"Then teach you how to use your powers," Phoebe added. "So that other demons don't get the same idea." She and Paige moved towards the pedestal where the Book of Shadows sat.

"What's that?" Amanda asked curiously.

"Our book of magic," Phoebe said, smiling fondly at the Book. "It has been in our family for years. It is the source of our powers."

"It also has a bunch of spells for vanquishing demons," Paige said, opening the Book and paging through it.

"Is Delnar in there?" Amanda walked over to stand next to the sisters.

"We're hoping," Paige said. She glanced at Amanda and saw the young witch looking intently at the Book, curiosity sparkling in her eyes. Smiling, Paige stepped aside and said, "How about you try looking for him?"

Amanda smiled and stepped up to the Book. She turned the pages slowly, looking in awe at each page.

"You know," Phoebe said. "Those demons are going to find us so maybe we should look a little faster."

"Oh. Sorry," Amanda apologized, flipping the pages faster to find the demon that was after her.

-x-

"Surprise!"

Piper came into the foyer to find Phoebe entering through the front door. "Phoebe... What are you doing here?"

Phoebe frowned as she closed the door behind her. "What do you mean? You knew I was coming. Frankly, I'm surprised you aren't acting all worried about me when you knew I was supposed to be here yesterday."

Piper bit her lip. "I am worried. Well, I was, but not now."

"Uh huh." Phoebe hung up her jacket. "The bus I was on broke down and we had to stay in it all night while they got someone to come and fix it. My back hurts so much from sitting on that bus for so long." She reached and hand behind her to try and rub her injured back.

"Why didn't you call?" Piper asked. "We could have come and gotten you."

"Because I don't have a cell phone and I was no where near a pay phone." Phoebe glanced around. "So... Where's Prue?"

"She's at work," Piper said simply, deciding to not go over the whole story.

"Good," Phoebe muttered, walking past Piper and towards the kitchen. "I just want to have something to eat and relax and not have a fight with her."

As Phoebe went into the kitchen the phone rang.

"Hello?" Piper said, answering it.

"It's Jeremy," came the response.

Piper winced. "Oh, hey. Sorry about earlier. Don't you just hate getting disconnected when driving through a tunnel?"

"Yeah, I do," Jeremy said. "Especially when I'm in the middle of a conversation with my boss about a news story I'm working on."

"That happens a lot, huh?"

"All the time," Jeremy said with a laugh.

Phoebe came back from the kitchen with a box of crackers in her hands. "Who's that?" she asked.

"It's Jeremy," Piper said.

"... Was that Phoebe?" Jeremy asked with a little too much interest.

Piper couldn't blame him. She knew he had been waiting for six months already for Phoebe to return to the manor so they could get their powers. But he is going to have to wait a lot longer if I have anything to do with it, Piper thought.

"No, that was Prue," Piper lied.

"It didn't sound like Prue."

"Well it was." Piper looked over at Phoebe, who was sitting down at the dining room table with her crackers.

The youngest Halliwell smiled as she picked up the bottle of Port that Piper had forgotten. She then set that down when she saw what was also on the table; the spirit board.

"Uh, Jeremy? I have to go," Piper said.

"But--"

"I'll talk to you later. Bye!" Piper hung up and ran over to Phoebe. "Hey, Phoebe, let's go out."

Phoebe turned away from the spirit board. "Why?"

The truth was the Piper didn't want her sister to start messing with the spirit board, knowing that it would point Phoebe to the attic. To the Book of Shadows. At that moment Piper didn't feel like opening the magical can of worms. If they got their powers then everything would go to hell. Their lives and relationships would be ruined by the demons that would plague them. Prue would die. Piper couldn't let that happen.

Maybe that was the point of the spell, Piper thought. To give me a chance to have a normal life. Without magic.

"Because that box of crackers is not going to be enough and I don't feel like cooking," Piper said. "Plus I know you don't have many clothes right now."

"True," Phoebe said with a nod.

"So let's go get some dinner and then go clothes shopping. What do you say?"

Phoebe smiled and closed the cracker box. "Let's do it." She got up from the table, but then stopped. "Wait. I don't have any money."

Piper waved her hand. "Doesn't matter. I'll pay."

"Good deal," Phoebe said with another smile.

"Okay. You go put the stuff you brought up in your room and I'll get my purse."

"Okay."

Piper waited until Phoebe had gone up the stairs and then grabbed up the spirit board, taking it to the basement to hide it.

-x-

"Here he is!" Amanda said triumphantly.

Phoebe, who had been checking on Piper, got up and went to stand next to Amanda. "Good work. What does it say?"

Before Amanda could read the description a demon shimmered into the attic. Paige had been mixing some potions while Amanda had searched the Book. Now she grabbed up a grenade potion and chucked it at the demon. With a look of fear the demon shimmered out and the potion exploded against a rocking chair, reducing it to splinters.

Shimmering back in, the demon held up his hands. "Wait! Don't vanquish me. I am just a messenger."

"What do you want?" Phoebe asked, moving to stand in front of Amanda to protect her.

"I have a message for Amanda," the demon said. "From Delnar." The demon smiled as he relayed his message. "Delnar just wants you to know that we have your family."

"What!" Amanda moved out from behind Phoebe, who grabbed her arm to hold her back.

The demon nodded as he continued. "We have your mother, your father, and even your little brother. Delnar says that he will kill them... Unless you come back with me and agree to cooperate."

Paige looked over at Amanda and saw the girl battling with herself. "No, Amanda. Don't go."

"Paige is right," Phoebe said. "You can't go. You don't even know if this demon is telling the truth."

Amanda shook her head. "I can't risk it. I can't risk my family dying because of me." She shook off Phoebe's hold and went over to the demon. "Take me to them."

"No!" Paige yelled.

But it was too late. The demon took Amanda's hand and shimmered out with her.

-x-

Piper laughed as Phoebe pulled her through the clothing store. Her sister must not have been shopping in months. Since Piper knew it was one of Phoebe's favorite things to do, she couldn't blame her for being so excited about this trip.

"Oh, look at this one," Phoebe said. She pulled a slinky red dress off of the rack and held it up. "What do you think? Guaranteed to get me a man?"

"Phoebe, you don't need a dress like that to get you a man," Piper said, taking the dress. She looked at the price tag and raised her eyebrows. "Especially one that costs this much."

"I thought you were going to buy me a 'Welcome Home' outfit."

"I am," Piper said, putting the dress back on the rack. "But I don't have as much money as the Queen of England. Look for something a little more in my price range."

"Fine," Phoebe mumbled.

Piper pulled a long green dress off the rack and smiled. "Paige would love this," she said.

Phoebe frowned. "Who's Paige?"

"Oh, um, I meant Prue," Piper said, trying to cover up.

"Well Prue wouldn't love that. She hates green, you know that."

"You're right," Piper said, quickly putting the dress back.

She suddenly felt horrible. How could she have forgotten about Paige? Without being witches, she thought, we would have never met. Piper turned and saw a woman cradling a crying baby. Piper put a hand to her stomach. At that moment she felt empty; incomplete. She wasn't pregnant anymore. And I won't be if I'm not a witch. Since I only met Leo because of that fact.

Piper shook her head. "I can't do this," she whispered.

"Do what?" Phoebe asked.

"We have to go home," Piper said, taking Phoebe's arm and leading her towards the exit.

"But I haven't picked something yet," Phoebe protested.

"I'll buy you something tomorrow," Piper said. "Right now we have to get home."

And get to the Book.

-x-

"How could she just go like that?" Paige almost yelled.

"Her family is in danger," Phoebe said, looking at the description of Delnar in the Book of Shadows. "Either of us would probably do the same."

Paige sighed. "You're right. Okay, we have to find her and stop Delnar. What does the Book say?"

"The usual," Phoebe answered. "Upper-level, wants power, blah, blah, blah. And for a vanquish... Oh no."

Paige had just started scrying and now stopped. "What?"

"The spell to vanquish him is a Power of Three spell."

"Great. Just great," Paige muttered, continuing to scry. "So how do we stop him?"

Phoebe bit her lip as she thought. "Maybe the two of us saying it will weaken him enough that we can take him out with one of those grenade potions."

"Maybe," Paige said, just as the crystal dropped. "I found her."

"Where is she?" Phoebe asked.

Paige looked up with a worried look on her face. "The nuclear power plant."

"Oh god. Okay, we have to hurry." Phoebe quickly copied down the spell as Paige grabbed up a couple of potions.

"I think we should call Leo, too," Paige said.

Phoebe nodded. "Leo!" she called. "We really need you now!"

Leo orbed in a moment later. "Is Piper awake?"

"No," Paige said with a shake of her head. "We have other problems." She quickly told him everything that had happened.

"Wow," Leo said. "That is bad."

"Yeah," Phoebe said. "Now we need to get to that plant and stop them. Can you come with us and get her family out of there while we take care of the demons?"

Leo nodded. "Sure."

"Okay," Paige said, pocketing a grenade potion and handing another one to Phoebe. "Let's get going." She took Phoebe's hand and orbed them out, Leo following on his own power.

A moment later they appeared in the nuclear power plant. Several dead guards were sprawled on the floor. Amanda stood near the nuclear reactor, tears in her eyes. Almost a dozen demons stood around, three of them guarding Amanda's frightened family, energy balls in their palms.

Delnar was standing next to Amanda. "Absorb the energy of the reactor now or my demons will kill your family."

Amanda nodded slowly, still crying. She started to raise her hands to put them on the reactor.

"Amanda, stop!" Phoebe yelled.

Everyone turned to Phoebe, Paige, and Leo. "Kill them!" Delnar yelled. He turned to the three demons guarding Amanda's family. "And kill the family!"

Paige raised up her hands and called for the energy balls before the demons could throw them. The began to reform in front of Paige and she redirected them at the demons she had stolen them from. Once they were vanquished Paige turned to Leo. "Get them back to the manor," she told him.

Leo nodded and orbed over to the family. They still looked frightened, but took his hands and he orbed them out.

Phoebe was in the middle of fighting two demons; one in front of her and one behind. They each conjured an energy ball and threw them at her. Phoebe levitated into the air and the demons were each vanquished by the other one's attack. After landing, Phoebe ran towards Amanda, but Delnar stepped in front of her.

"Witch," he snarled. He threw a punch that knocked Phoebe to the floor. "I won't let you ruin my plans." Delnar conjured an energy ball and prepared to throw it at Phoebe.

"No!" Amanda yelled. She jumped in the way of Delnar's attack and the energy ball hit her square in the chest. But it didn't kill her, didn't even hurt her. The energy ball had been absorbed.

Paige ran over and helped Phoebe up. "Amanda, are you okay?" she asked.

Amanda felt her chest and nodded. "I'm fine..."

"Good," Phoebe said. She looked at Paige. "Should we try the spell?"

With a nod from Paige, Phoebe pulled out the spell. Together they read it and then each threw their grenade potion. The vials hit Delnar and exploded, but when the smoke cleared the demon was still standing.

"Is that all you've got?" Delnar said with a laugh. Still laughing, Delnar shimmered out, followed by his remaining demons.

"We have to go after him," Paige said.

"But how do we stop him?" Phoebe asked. "We don't have enough power."

"I've got an idea," Amanda said. Before the sisters could stop her, Amanda placed her hands on the nuclear reactor. The ground shook and the lights flickered as Amanda absorbed the reactor's power. The lights then went out as the last of the power was drained, but the three of them could still see; Amanda was glowing.

"Is that healthy?" Phoebe wondered.

"Who knows," Paige said. Then to Amanda, "Why did you do that?"

"You said you don't have enough power to vanquish Delnar," Amanda said. "I thought that maybe I would if I absorbed the energy of the reactor."

"Probably," Phoebe said. "But just one problem. How do we find him before you explode?"

Paige thought for a moment and then said, "Did that demon take you back to the Underworld before you all came here?"

"Yeah," Amanda said with a nod.

"Okay," Paige said. "I want you to focus on that place. Try to make it as clear in your head as you can."

"How will that help?" Phoebe asked.

"You can absorb powers, too, right?" Paige asked Amanda.

"Well I didn't know I could until I absorbed that energy ball. But now that I think about it, after a demon would shimmer with me they would seem really tired and I would feel like I had just absorbed some energy."

Paige nodded. "I felt tired after we orbed back from your apartment. Thought it was just stress."

"Okay," Phoebe said, "What does all this have to do with finding Delnar? We're running out of time. I can tell." She nodded at Amanda, who had started shaking.

"Well," Paige said, "when Amanda touches me she will start to absorb my powers. I'm hoping that she will be able to focus enough on where Delnar is to orb us there."

"But what about when we get there?" Phoebe asked. "When she releases all that power... Will you have enough strength to orb us out?"

Paige shrugged. "I hope so."

Phoebe covered her face. "Oh god."

"We have to go," Amanda said. "I don't think I can hold this power in much longer."

"Okay," Paige said, taking Amanda's hand in her own, Phoebe taking the other. "Now remember. Focus on that place they took you and think of going there."

Amanda closed her eyes and concentrated. After a few moments the three of them slowly dissipated into orbs and disappeared.

-x-

Lightning flashed and the rain fell hard. Piper was struggling to get the attic door open while Phoebe stood behind her eating a candy bar.

"Piper, why are you trying so hard to get in there?"

"Because I need to get something," Piper said through clenched teeth.

"And what would that be?"

"A book. A very special book."

"Oh, I know which one! The Wizard of Oz, right?" Phoebe said with a grin. "That's your favorite."

Piper turned and looked at Phoebe, slightly annoyed. "No. It's not that. Now why won't this thing open!" She slammed her fist on the door.

"Maybe because it's... locked?" Phoebe shrugged and bit into her candy bar when Piper gave her a scathing look.

There was the sound of the front door closing downstairs, followed by Prue yelling, "I'm home!"

"Oh, it's Prue," Phoebe said. "I bet she is going to ignore me all night."

"Phoebe, listen. She doesn't hate you. She knows that you did not seduce Roger. She is just a little frustrated. And in time you two will be the best of friends."

Phoebe frowned. "And how do you know this?"

Piper turned away from Phoebe and quickly said, "Sisterly intuition."

Prue came up the stairs behind them. "Piper, are you trying to get in there again?"

Piper stood up and pushed a strand of hair out of her face. She turned to Prue and gave a weak smile. "Yes, yes I am." There was a creak from behind her and the attic door swung open. "Oh... well not anymore."

The room was dark and the three sisters walked in cautiously.

"What is it we are looking for?" Prue asked.

"A book," Phoebe replied. "And it's not The Wizard of Oz."

"Shush!" Piper hissed and hit Phoebe lightly on the arm. There was a bright flash of lightning that lit the room up. "There it is." Piper pointed to a large box. They gathered around it and kneeled down. Piper opened it and let out a sigh of relief when she saw the Book of Shadows.

"What's that?" Prue asked.

"I don't know," Phoebe said. "But that's a cool symbol."

"I wasn't asking you," Prue snapped. "Piper, you were looking for it, so you obviously know what it is. Tell us."

Piper pulled the Book of Shadows out of the box and set it down on her lap, opening it to the page with the spell that would activate their powers. Once she read it she would be able to reverse the spell she had cast and get home.

"A book of magic," Piper said, with nothing to lose.

"What!" Prue yelled.

"Cool," Phoebe whispered.

Piper took a deep breath and started the spell before anything else could be said. "Hear now the words of the witches, the secrets we hid in the night. The oldest of gods are invoked here, the great work of magic is sought. In this night and in this hour I call upon the ancient power. Bring your power to we sisters three. We want the power. Give us the power."

With the last word there was a flash of lightning from outside and a rumble of thunder. "It's done," Piper said.

"What's done?" Prue asked. "Piper, what did you just do?"

"Sounded like she just gave us our powers," Phoebe mused.

Prue shook her head. "No, powers aren't real."

"Oh, but they are."

The three sisters jumped and looked towards the attic door. Jeremy was standing there, an athame with a golden handle in his hand, a huge, murderous grin on his face.

-x-

Paige, Phoebe, and Amanda orbed into a cave in the Underworld, much to the surprise of Delnar and his minions.

"How did you find me?" Delnar questioned. Before they could answer he shook his head and said, "No matter. I have nothing to worry about. You've already proven you don't have enough power to stop me."

"We don't," Phoebe said. She then nodded to Amanda. "But we think she does."

"Now!" Paige yelled. She dropped her hand from Amanda and held tightly onto Phoebe, orbing out.

Amanda screamed as the power inside her exploded outward. A massive wave of energy ripped through the cave, vaporizing the demons along with everything else. It blasted through the walls and into other surrounding caverns, destroying anything and everything inside them.

When all the power had been released Amanda collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. Just then, Paige and Phoebe orbed back in.

"You did it," Paige said.

There was a sudden rumbling and the whole place started to shake violently. Rocks fell from the cave ceiling, crashing down around the girls, making them scream with fright.

"The cave is collapsing," Phoebe yelled over the noise.

"Well there was a nuclear explosion in here!" Paige yelled back.

"We have to get out of here," Phoebe said, helping Amanda up.

Paige, tired as she was, took their hands and orbed them out as the entire cave collapsed.

A moment later they orbed into the foyer of the manor. Paige leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. "Okay, I'm not orbing you again anytime soon," she said to Amanda. "It's just too much of a drain."

Leo came out of the living room, looking concerned. "Are you guys okay? What took so long?"

"We're fine," Phoebe said. "Amanda just had to absorb a nuclear reactor so that we could vanquish the demon."

"Along with a good portion of the Underworld," Paige said, eyes still closed.

"Oh, that's what it was," Leo said. "The news said that most of the power in the city was out."

"Will they be able to get it back?" Amanda asked, worried.

"Sure they will," Paige said. "The reactor probably just needs some time to recharge, like me." She covered her mouth as she yawned.

"Where's my family?" Amanda asked Leo.

"In there," Leo said, pointing back to the living room. "Now I have to get back to my other charge," he said, orbing out.

Amanda started to walk towards the living room, but stopped. "I know that you have already helped me a lot," she said to Paige and Phoebe. "But could you do one thing for me?"

Phoebe nodded. "Anything."

Amanda fidgeted as she spoke. "When I was looking for Delnar in your magic book I saw directions in there for making a potion to bind powers. I was wondering... could you make it to bind my powers?"

Paige finally opened her eyes. "Why would you want to do that? If you're afraid of demons attacking you then you shouldn't be worried. You can absorb powers. Most demons wouldn't be able to hurt you."

Amanda shook her head. "It's not myself I am worried about. It's my family. I can't risk demons going after them just to get to me. I can't put them in that kind of danger."

"Are you sure about this?" Phoebe asked.

Amanda nodded. "I'm sure."

"Okay," Phoebe said. "We'll go make the potion. You go in and see your family."

Amanda smiled and went into the living room as Phoebe and Paige went to make the potion.

-x-

"Jeremy," Prue said. "What are you doing here?"

"He's here to kill us," Piper said, setting down the Book and getting to her feet.

"What?" Phoebe asked. "Why would he do that?"

"Because he's a warlock," Piper said, glaring at Jeremy.

She remembered hating him so much when she had first found out who he was. Most of it had been because she was so hurt from how he had used her for so long. Piper had loved Jeremy. Now after years of fighting demons and warlocks, she couldn't see how she had not seen through his charade.

"I don't know how you know that," Jeremy said. "But it doesn't matter. You're right. I'm here to kill you and take your powers. I've waited so long." He grinned again as he advanced towards the sisters, Prue and Phoebe now standing as well. "Wait's over."

Piper threw up her hands and froze Jeremy. Prue gasped and Phoebe screamed. Both of them turned to stare at their sister.

"Piper," Prue said. "What did you do?"

"I froze him," Piper said. "But he won't stay that way for long. We have to say the spell to vanquish him."

"Wait," Phoebe said. "We?"

"You have powers too," Piper said.

Phoebe tilted her head and smiled an anxious smile. "Really?"

Piper smiled, remembering Phoebe having been the one eager and ready to jump into their witchy lives. Guess this Phoebe is the same, Piper thought.

Prue shook her head furiously. "No," she said. "No. Powers aren't real. Magic isn't real."

Piper sighed and rolled her eyes. "Prue? There is a frozen warlock in our attic. I think that proves that magic is real."

"So," Phoebe said. "What is my power? Can I blow things up?"

"No," Piper said, choosing not to tell Phoebe that Piper herself would get that power later from the disappointed look on her sister's face. "You can have premonitions."

"Ha!" Phoebe turned to Prue. "And you think I don't have any vision of the future."

Piper was starting to get antsy. She knew that with her powers being so new at that time that her freeze wouldn't last long and Jeremy would soon be able to attack them. "Look," she started to say, but Jeremy suddenly unfroze.

For a moment he was disoriented. "You froze me, didn't you?" He smiled. "I'm going to love having that power." He raised his athame and started to attack Piper.

"No!" Prue yelled. She stepped in front of her sister and Jeremy suddenly flew backwards, crashing into the wall. Prue looked stunned. "Did I...?"

"Yes, you did," Piper said. "Now please, we have to hurry. Take my hands."

Phoebe did so, but Prue didn't move.

"Prue, I am your sister," Piper said. "You have to trust me."

Prue nodded slowly and took Piper's free hand as Jeremy got up from the floor. He jabbed his athame at them and a whirlwind surrounded them.

"Repeat after me!" Piper yelled over the screaming wind. "The Power of Three will set us free!" She started to chant and Phoebe joined in right away, Prue taking up the chant after a moment.

Jeremy's voice became distorted and demonic as he tried to yell over their chant. "I am not the only one. I am one of millions, in places you could never imagine, in forms you would never believe. We are hell on this earth! You will never be safe and you will never be free!" With his last word, Jeremy exploded.

For a moment there was silence. Then Prue said, "The Power of Three..."

Piper smiled. "Damn straight."

-x-

Paige took the empty glass from Amanda, who was now powerless, and set it in the kitchen sink. "Well Amanda, you've lost your powers. What are you going to do next?"

"I'm going to Disney World!" Amanda cheered, eliciting laughter from Phoebe and Paige. "Actually... I'm just going to try and continue on with my life as it was before I got my powers. Be normal."

"Sometimes we wish we could do that," Phoebe said with a sigh.

"Why don't you?" Amanda asked.

"We're the Charmed Ones," Paige said. "It's our destiny to fight evil. No matter how hard it gets or how much it interferes with our lives... magic is a part of who we are."

She glanced at Phoebe, who looked away. Paige knew that Phoebe was having a lot of problems with magic lately, mostly involving Cole. But she hoped that her sister wasn't thinking of wanting to give up their powers. They had recently got a taste of that and Phoebe had seemed to have changed her mind. Although, Paige thought, that was before Cole came back.

"I guess I should get going," Amanda said, interrupting Paige's thoughts. "I'm going to spend some time with my family. They are still pretty shaken up about what happened."

"We understand," Phoebe said. "Be safe."

Amanda nodded. "I will be." She turned to go, but stopped and looked back. "Thanks," she said. "For everything."

After Amanda had left, Phoebe and Paige went up to the attic to check on Piper.

"Still unconscious," Paige said with a sigh.

"Yeah," Phoebe said. "I wonder what she's doing in there."

-x-

Piper sat at a table in the attic, writing down the spell she had cast earlier on a piece of paper. Phoebe had told her of a spell she had used to reverse a spell that had made Paige's breasts balloon up when Paige was still new to the craft, and Piper thought it would be a good one to use to reverse her own spell.

"Piper?" Prue said. "What are you doing?" She and Phoebe came to stand next to the table that Piper was sitting at.

"Writing a reversal spell."

"A reversal for what?" Phoebe asked.

Piper sighed. She knew that once she had reversed the spell, this place would cease to exist. So it didn't matter what she said.

"For this whole alternate reality or whatever it is," Piper said, lighting a candle. She got up and looked at Prue. "I don't know how I could have forgotten anything about you. All I know is that it won't happen again," she said, pulling a confused Prue into a hug.

"Piper, what are you talking about?" Prue asked. "And you're squeezing the life out of me?"

Piper gave a short laugh as she stepped back. Tears were now in her eyes, threatening to to drip down her face. "I love you, Prue. You know that, right?"

"Yeah," Prue said slowly, still confused.

"Good." Piper let out a painful sigh and picked up the piece of paper she had written on. "Goodbye, Prue. Phoebe? I'll be seeing you soon." She turned away from her bewildered sisters and touched the paper to the flame of the magic. She placed it in a bowl, and as it burned she said the reversal spell. "Guiding spirits, hear my plea. Annul this magic..." She took one last look at Prue and had to force herself to say the final words of the spell. "Let it be."

The paper burned and smoke rose from the bowl. It suddenly shot towards Piper and entered her body, like before, through her nose. Once again she coughed and sputtered, and once again her body went rigged and she dropped to the floor.

-x-

In the real attic, Phoebe sat writing the final touches on her column while Paige was resting on the attic's couch.

Piper suddenly shot up into a sitting position, gasping for breath.

"Piper!" Phoebe yelled, running to her sister and helping her up.

Paige jolted awake and got up from the couch. "You're back."

"Can we ask where from?" Phoebe asked. "We know you created some new reality or something with your spell, but we have no idea what it dealt with."

Piper caught a look of herself in a full length mirror. She smiled as she saw her older image for the first time in awhile. So glad I got rid of those bangs, she thought.

"Well?" Paige prodded.

"Uh..." Piper turned to her sisters. "It's a long story." She looked over Phoebe's shoulder as swirl of lights appeared in the center of the attic. "What the...?"

Phoebe turned and looked. "Maybe it's Grams."

But when the lights came together to form the arriving person they all gasped in surprise.

Piper was the first to say something, but it was barely loud enough to be a whisper. "Prue."

**End of Episode Four: Remembrance**


	5. Episode Five: Lost Soul

_**Episode 5.5: Lost Soul**_

The Charmed Ones stood stock still, staring at the spiritual form of Prue. She looked just as she had before the demon Shax had killed her; except she was now glowing and see-through.

Prue nodded as Piper said her name. "Yes, it's me. God, it's so great to see both of you again." She turned to Paige. "And to finally meet you." Her wispy form moved towards Paige, who didn't move. Prue brushed a shimmering hand across Paige's cheek. "My baby sister. If only things had been different..."

"Why are you here?" Piper asked. Her eyes, like Phoebe's, were filled with tears. She may have, in a way, seen Prue just a few minutes before, but that Prue had been different. This was the real deal.

Prue turned, a frown etched on her face. "Don't you want me here?"

Piper gave a weak smile and wiped away her tears. "Of course I want you here. What I meant was... why now? Why not when I first called you last year? Why not any time between then and now? Why did you wait so long?"

"Because I had to," Prue said. "A witch who has lost her life is not allowed to return to earth in a spiritual form until the anniversary of her death."

"Why's that?" Phoebe asked.

"That rule was made for a very important reason. If a witch returned too soon after her death her loved ones would hold on to her. Not let her go; not move on." Prue looked at Phoebe and Piper in turn. "You two have grown so much in the past year." She looked at Paige. "And helped Paige grow as well. You needed that time to be able to grow."

Piper glanced at her watch. "It's almost midnight. Why did you wait so long to come today?"

Prue shrugged. "I was going to come earlier, but I saw that you guys were busy saving an innocent, which always comes first."

Piper frowned and looked at Phoebe and Paige. "What innocent?"

Paige waved her hand dismissivly. "Later." She turned to Prue and said, "I've always wanted to meet you and learn everything there was about you. Phoebe and Piper have told me some things, but it's always better to hear it firsthand."

Prue laughed. "I'll tell you anything you want to know."

There was a sudden shimmering in the center of the attic and three demons appeared. The one in the middle was short and crouched, clothed in a billowing hooded cloak. He held a staff in one hand and a glass sphere in the other.

The two other demons were obviously just bodyguards. Bulging muscles were barely contained in their black clothing and each held an athame in their hand.

"Attack!" yelled the middle demon with a raspy voice. He held back as the other two attacked the three living sisters. Waving his staff in a clockwise motion, the cloaked demon started to mutter something.

Phoebe grabbed onto one of the muscled demons and fell back, pulling the demon with her and flipping him onto his back. She leapt up and ran over to a table where several potions sat. Phoebe grabbed up a grenade potion and threw it at the demon, vanquishing him before he could get up.

Paige and Piper were dealing with the other demon. Piper froze the demon's athame just as he threw it and Paige orbed the weapon to herself. She threw it back at the demon, but he moved out of the way and it just grazed his arm.

Prue watched her sisters fight and sighed, wishing that she could help. But her attention was drawn away as she suddenly felt herself being pulled towards the cloaked demon. Her body turned into a golden ball of light, which zoomed over to the demon and into the glass sphere.

"No!" Piper yelled, seeing this. She raised her hands to freeze the demon, but he shimmered out with Prue's soul before she could.

The remaining demon grinned. "Mission accomplished," he said, shimmering out after his master.

Piper dropped to the floor and started to shake with sobs. "I can't lose her again," she cried.

"We won't," Paige said with a take-charge attitude. She went over to the Book of Shadows and started to page through it.

"Paige is right," Phoebe said, kneeling down next to Piper and rubbing her arm. "We won't let some demon get away with Prue's soul."

Blue orbs streamed down from the ceiling, forming into Leo. "Hey, I just came to see if Piper was awake." He saw her sitting on the floor and rushed over to her. "Piper, you're back... What's wrong?"

Piper just shook her head, not able to speak.

Phoebe spoke for her. "We got a visit from Prue--"

"Oh," Leo interrupted, nodding his head. "It's the anniversary of her death."

Piper stopped sobbing and turned to her husband, her sadness turning into anger. "You knew about that whole rule of her not being able to come to us until now?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't allowed to tell," Leo said. "It was for your own good."

Piper snorted and looked away. "Damn Whitelighter rules."

Leo ignored the comment, instead asking Phoebe, "So Prue came...?"

Phoebe nodded. "We only got to talk to her for a minute. Then demons attacked. One of them somehow captured Prue's spirit in a glass sphere. Paige is looking in the Book for him."

At this, Paige gave a frustrated sigh. "And I can't find him."

"It's a big book," Phoebe said. "Keep looking."

"No need," Leo said. "I know what type of demon it was." He got up and went over to the Book of Shadows, standing next to Paige. "It was a Soul Catcher demon, named for obvious reasons. Demons like that don't use the souls for themselves, but sell them off to other demons."

Leo placed his hands, palms down, over the Book. His hands glowed as he twiddled his fingers and the pages flipped rapidly until he lowered his hands.

Paige looked at the Book and nodded. "Yeah, that's him."

"Is there a vanquish?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah, a potion," Paige said.

Phoebe turned to Piper. "Honey, do you want to go lay down or something while we make the potion?"

Piper shook her head, wiping away her tears. "No. I want to make the potion." She stood up and walked over to the Book. "I want to make sure I have a hand in what kills the bastard who captured my sister." She picked up the Book and headed for the stairs without another word.

Leo looked at the other two. "I have to get back to my other charge."

Paige sighed. "What is it with this charge, Leo? Is she inept at protecting herself?"

"Actually, yes," Leo said. "She's a witch who has visions, like you, Phoebe. Except that she can only have them in her sleep. Her power has pretty much taken over her life and she sleeps most of the time, only being awake long enough to eat, go to the bathroom, and tell her Whitelighter of what she has seen."

"So, what," Paige said, "she needs to be watched over all the time?"

Leo nodded. "Pretty much. Since it's such a time consuming job, the Elders assign Whitelighters to take turns watching over her. Now it's my turn."

"Why does she decide to sleep all the time, though?" Phoebe asked.

"She doesn't decide to, she has to," Leo said. "Her visions are very powerful, but they take a lot of energy and she just can't really stay awake that long."

Phoebe shook her head. "If I were her, I don't know if I would want to keep my power. She's missing out on life."

Leo shrugged. "In a way, she is seeing a lot more than most people see in their entire lives. Even if they're explorers. She also knows that her gift is very important to the fight for the side of good. Now I better get going. She's a large target for demons, so I have to get back."

"Okay," Paige said. "We'll call if we need help."

Leo nodded and orbed out.

"Let's go get our sister back," Phoebe said. She started to head for the stairs, but Paige stopped her.

"Wait. How do we find the demon once the potion is ready?"

Phoebe glanced around. "Didn't you graze the demon with that athame?"

Paige nodded. "Yeah."

"So there should be some blood on it," Phoebe said, nodding to the athame that was stuck in the wall.

"I'll get it and start scrying," Paige said, going to pry the athame from the wall.

"And I'll go help Piper," Phoebe said, turning on her heel and making her way for the kitchen.

-x-

In the Soul Catcher's lair, the demon himself pulled Prue's trapped soul from his cloak and held it out.

Another demon reached out and took it. "Thank you," he said. "My master shall be quite pleased."

"Ah, ah," said the Soul Catcher, waggling a scabbed finger at the other demon. "We aren't forgetting payment are we?" As a sigh came from the other demon, the Soul Catcher continued, "You know the drill. Payment and paperwork. Humans aren't the only ones who need to keep records."

"Yes, yes," the other demon muttered. "I've purchased many souls from you, I know how it goes." He reached in his own cloak and pulled out a small sack that was filled with gold coins. He dropped it into the Soul Catcher's waiting hand.

"Now for the paperwork," the Soul Catcher said. He put away the sack and then got out a piece of parchment and a quill pen.

There was a sudden explosion from outside followed by shouts and more explosions. The surviving minion from the attack on the manor rushed into the lair. "Sir," he said. "The Charmed Ones. They've found us."

The Soul Catcher glanced at his minion's belt. "You're athame, where is it?"

"I..."

"You left it at the witche's home, didn't you? You fool!"

The demon who had purchased Prue's soul started to back away. "If the Charmed Ones are here, I don't want to stay around."

"What about the paperwork?" the Soul Catcher asked.

"No time!" And with that, the demon shimmered out.

Outside the lair, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige were fighting the Soul Catcher's guards.

"Fireball!" Paige yelled, teleorbing a demon's attack right back at him. She glanced around. "There's too many of them!"

"We have to get in there before the Soul Catcher escapes!" Piper yelled back.

"I'm on it," Phoebe said. She ran towards the demons blocking the entrance to the lair and levitated over them, landing on the other side. Before the demons could stop her, she burst into the lair.

The Soul Catcher was alone, except for one minion. The minion attacked Phoebe, but she gave a powerful kick to his chest. It knocked him back onto a bonfire that sat in the middle of the lair. Flames spread over his body and he exploded.

Phoebe advanced on the Soul Catcher, but he grabbed up his staff and pointed it at her. Phoebe screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground. She felt like something was being pulled out of her.

"Staff!" Phoebe heard someone yell. The demon's staff disappeared in a shower of orbs. A moment later the demon froze.

"Phoebe?" Piper came over to her sister. "Are you okay?"

Phoebe sat still for a moment, just trying to breath. The horrible feeling in her chest finally subsided. "Yeah... I'm okay." She got to her feet and turned to Piper and Paige, who held the demon's staff in her hands. "What about you guys?"

"Demons go boom," Paige said with a smile. "Thanks mostly to Piper."

"Well I heard you scream," Piper said to Phoebe. "And I told myself that I wasn't going to lose another sister. ... The demons tended to die pretty quickly after that." She moved her gaze to the frozen demon. "Now let's see what he has to say," Piper said, unfreezing just the demon's head.

The Soul Catcher glanced around, confused. "Why can't I move the rest of my body?"

"Because it's frozen," Piper said, crossing her arms. "Ironic how the sister you stole from us is the one who first came up with the idea of interrogating this way. Now where is she?"

"I don't have her anymore."

"Then who does?" Phoebe asked.

The Soul Catcher sneered. "I'm not telling you."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She pulled out a vial from her pocket and held it up for the demon to see. "Then maybe you'll tell Mr. Vanquishing-potion here."

The demon's sneer faded, but he still said nothing.

"I don't think he's gonna talk," Paige muttered.

"Should we just vanquish him?" Phoebe asked.

Piper shook her head. "No. He's our only lead."

The Soul Catcher suddenly unfroze. He snatched up a dagger and threw it at Piper.

"Look out!" Phoebe yelled, tackling her sister to the ground.

The demon reached out his hand and his staff was torn from Paige's grasp, flying into his own. He then proceeded to use it on Paige the same way he had used it on Phoebe minutes before.

Piper watched as her baby sister collapsed in pain. She didn't want to use the potion, but she couldn't just let Paige die. Standing up, she whipped her arm and the vial flew across the lair. Flames spread over the Soul Catcher the instant the vial smashed into him. He dropped his staff and screamed out as the flames consumed him.

Piper and Phoebe helped Paige to her feet, watching as the demon exploded, leaving nothing more than a scorch mark.

"There goes our lead," Piper muttered.

Phoebe rubbed her sister's arm. "Don't worry. We'll find her."

Paige nodded. "There has to be something here that could lead us to the demon that bought Prue's soul." She started to look around the lair, searching for anything that could help them.

Piper and Phoebe started to help and after a few minutes Phoebe called out to her sisters. "I think I found something," she said, as Paige and Piper came over to her. Phoebe held up a stack of scrolls.

"What are they?" Paige asked.

"They seem to be records," Phoebe answered. "Of the things the Soul Catcher sold."

"So?" Piper asked.

"So," Phoebe said with a grin, "they also say who bought them."

Piper's eyes widened and she snatched one of the scrolls from Phoebe. "Do any of them mention Prue?"

Phoebe shook her head. "None that I have seen."

"But maybe the demon who bought Prue's soul is a regular customer," Paige said.

"That's what I was thinking," Phoebe said with a nod. "Maybe we should take these back to the manor and start looking these guys up in the Book of Shadows."

Piper nodded. "Then summon their asses and find out what they know." She folded up the scroll in her hand. "Let's go."

-x-

Piper sighed as the smoke from the demon she had just vanquished faded away. She picked up one of the scrolls and crumpled it up, tossing it into a trash bin.

Phoebe entered the attic with a steaming mug of coffee in her hands. It was now morning and Phoebe hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours. "Hey," she said, taking a sip of the coffee and relishing the taste. "Sorry, I just really needed some caffeine to keep me awake." Phoebe paused and sniffed the air. "Is that smoke?"

"Yep," Piper said, not looking up from the newest scroll that she held in her hands.

"Piper, you said you would wait for me so we could summon the demon together."

Piper moved over to the Book of Shadows, still not looking at her sister. She started to page through it, looking for the next demon. "Well I didn't, and it doesn't matter. He didn't know anything."

Phoebe sighed. "Piper..."

Piper didn't look up.

"Piper, look at me."

Her sister finally raised her gaze.

"Thank you," Phoebe said. "Now, Piper, I know how you feel."

"Do you?" Piper asked, cutting her off. "You should feel the same way as me. We lost Prue once before and now we might lose her again. I can't stand that. And if you felt the same then you wouldn't be able to stand it either. You wouldn't be able to waste a minute not looking for her. Instead you feel free to take coffee breaks."

Phoebe stared Piper down. "I'm sorry Piper, but I have been up for over twenty-four hours. Yesterday I fought demons, stopped an innocent from blowing up half the city, and still managed to finish my column. You, however, spent the day having a nice catnap on the floor."

"I wasn't napping!" Piper snapped back. "You know that."

Phoebe sighed and set down her coffee mug. "You're right, I'm sorry. I'm just tired and on edge. But you have to understand that I want to find Prue just as much as you do."

Piper nodded. "I do. I'm sorry, I'm on edge too." She wiped away a tear that tried to escape her eye. "It's just... losing Prue the first time was hard enough. Then I had to say goodbye to her in that alternate reality or whatever that I was in."

"What?" Phoebe asked, hearing this for the fist time.

Piper shook her head. "Later. Anyways... I don't know if I can handle losing her soul. Before I always knew she was in a lace where she was okay. But now..." The tears couldn't be stopped and started to cascade down her face.

"Oh, sweetie." Phoebe opened her arms. "Come here." Phoebe embraced her sister and stroked her hair. "It's going to be okay. We'll find her and vanquish the demon that took her."

Piper broke the hug and nodded. "I know." She wiped away her tears got back to searching through the Book. "Where's Paige?"

"Downstairs on the phone," Phoebe said. She picked her mug of coffee back up and took a long swig. "She's in the middle of a lecture with her boss."

Piper frowned. "A lecture? Why?"

"Because," Paige said, coming into the attic. "I missed work yesterday when I had to save that innocent and I called in again today. Mr. Cowen was pretty mad. I don't think he believed my sick act."

"Yeah, well, you never were that good of an actress," Phoebe said with a smile.

"Oh shush. Now give me some of that," Paige said, snatching Phoebe's mug and taking a gulp of the caffeinated beverage. She let out a refreshed sigh and then handed the drink back to Phoebe.

"You could have gotten your own," Phoebe muttered.

Paige shrugged. "I thought sisters shared," she said, sticking her tongue out at Phoebe. Turning to Piper, she said, "Speaking of sisters, how's the search going?"

"Well," Piper started, "counting the one I just vanquished, we have summoned and interrogated three demons. All of which knew nothing."

"One of them is bound to know something," Paige said. "Who's next?"

"This guy," Piper said, stopping her search.

Phoebe and Paige went to stand next to Piper to see what page she had stopped on.

"Zerek," Phoebe said, reading over Piper's shoulder. "Known and respected by most other demons, Zerek deals in the practice of resurrection. Using dark spells and potions, this demon is able to bring most any type of being back to life. Unlike other demonic resurrectors, whom only have the power to bring beings back in a zombie like state, Zerek is able to return them to the way they were before they died."

"Huh," Paige muttered. "I don't think he's really what we're looking for."

"Me neither," Phoebe agreed. She picked up a few of the scrolls they had brought back and started to look through them.

"Wait," Piper said. "Shouldn't we interrogate them all?"

"There's no time for that," Paige said. "We should concentrate on the demons who would have something to gain from Prue's soul."

Phoebe nodded. "Paige is right. This Zerek guy really doesn't fit the profile. Why would a demon want to bring Prue back to life?"

"Well," Piper started.

She was cut off by Phoebe suddenly gasping for breath, her eyelids flying shut. Her sisters waited patiently and after a moment Phoebe opened her eyes again.

"What did you see?" Paige asked.

"A magic show," Phoebe said.

Piper stared. "... A magic show?"

"Yeah," Phoebe said with a nod. "But I know there was evil there. I could feel it."

"What's the name on the scroll?" Paige asked.

Phoebe squinted at the paper in her hands. "I can't read it. It's all smudged."

Paige moved over to an antique desk and pulled out their scrying tools. "Well maybe we can use that scroll to scry for the place."

"That's a good idea," Phoebe said, bringing the scroll over to her little sister.

"Wait," Piper said. "You two just said that we should concentrate on demons who would have something to gain by having Prue's soul."

"And?" Paige asked, already in the process of scrying.

"Well you don't even know what demon that is!" Piper yelled. "Yet you are wasting time with it?"

"Piper," Phoebe said. "You know I get premonitions for a reason. And I got this one while touching one of those scrolls that came from a place where the only thing sold are souls. We have to believe that my premonition has something to do with who took Prue's soul."

Paige nodded. "It's the best lead we have right now." The crystal landed and Paige wrote down the address. "Let's get going."

"I'm going to stay here," Piper said.

"What?" Paige and Phoebe asked at the same time.

Piper shrugged. "I really don't think we're going to find anything that can help us at a magic show," she said. "So you two go and if you find some, great. But I'm going to stay here and keep looking."

"Well," Phoebe said. "If it turns out she's not there then it would be good to have not wasted all that time."

Piper nodded. "Exactly."

"Okay, Paige and I will go," Phoebe said. She finished off her coffee and set the mug down on the desk. "We'll call if we find anything out." She then took Paige's hand and the two of them orbed out.

The moment they were gone, Piper snatched up the scroll with Zerek's name on it and started scrying.

-x-

Paige glanced at her watch and sighed. "Phoebe, we've been here for almost an hour."

She and Phoebe had arrived at the magic show just as it was starting. Phoebe had suggested that they wait for the show to end before searching around. Their main suspect was the magician himself and they wouldn't be able to talk to him until after the show.

"Don't worry," Phoebe whispered. "I think it's almost over."

"Good," Paige muttered.

She grabbed up a handful of peanuts from a bowel they had been given and started munching. Her stomach felt as if it was eating itself and had been making noises for almost half-an-hour, much to the dislike of those around her. She couldn't help it, though, not having eaten since the day before.

"Oh please," Paige muttered as the next trick was performed. "I don't know how I could have ever thought this stuff was cool. After being a witch for over a year, it all just seems so cheap."

"I know what you mean," Phoebe said with a smile. "I went to a magic show just a few months after I first became a witch. Just for fun, you know? They had to kick me out because I was laughing so hard. I just wanted to get up on stage and show them all some _real_ magic."

The magician on the stage was now setting up his final act. His assistant rolled a tall wooden box out onto the stage and the magician announced that he was going to make a member of the audience disappeared.

"I could show him a thing or two about disappearing," Paige muttered to Phoebe, making her sister giggle.

"You!" The magician pointed across the room, directly at Paige.

"Me?" Paige asked, just to make sure.

The magician nodded. "Yes, you. You've been disturbing the whole show. I might as well make you disappear so you can't disturb anyone else."

"Sorry," Paige said. She slid down in her chair. "I'll be quiet."

"No, really. Come up here." The magician waved for Paige to come up on the stage. "Be my volunteer."

"I dunno..."

Phoebe leaned over and whispered in Paige's ear. "This could be what we were waiting for. I'm betting there is some trap door or something. That will get you behind the scenes, allow you to look around some."

Paige wasn't so sure, but she got to her feet anyways and went up on stage. "What do you want me to do?" Paige asked.

"Just step into this box and stand perfectly still," the magician said, leading her over to the box. "I will do the rest." He opened the door, and once Paige was in, slammed it shut.

Paige heard a click. She felt the box then start to be spun around. Placing her hands against the sides of the box, Paige tried to keep her balance. The box was spinning faster and faster and Paige was starting to feel quite sick.

_Now I wish I hadn't eaten all those peanuts_, she thought.

Just as Paige thought she was going to throw up, there was a bright flash of light. Paige shielded her eyes. After a moment she realized the spinning had stopped. Everything was silent.

Dropping her hands, Paige looked around. She was in a cage.

"Uh oh," she muttered. She tried to orb out, but her orbs just bounced off the bars. "This can't be good."

She tried to get her barings. It seemed as if she was in the basement of the building. She could hear muffled clapping coming from above. In the basement there was a large assortment of magic tricks that she guessed were used in other shows. Other than the tricks, a cabinet, and a mirror on the wall, the room was quite empty.

Paige heard a door open and then the clomping of someone coming down the stairs; two someones, actually. The magician and his assistant came strolling over to Paige, evil smirks on both their faces.

"Well, well," the magician said. "We knew we'd be getting a visit from the Charmed Ones soon enough."

Paige's eyes widened. "You're the demon that took Prue's soul?"

The magician nodded. "Let me tell you, she did not come cheap. In my opinion, she cost too much. She may be a former Charmed One, but the key word is 'former'. Now she is just a regular old soul. Not worth that much in my book. But my master insisted..."

"Who's you're master?" Paige asked, hoping to pump the demon for information.

The magician waggled a finger. "I'm not telling," he said in a sing-song voice. "I've already said too much. Now it's time to get on with the plan." He snapped his fingers and electricity shot from the bars of the cage, striking Paige and knocking her unconscious. "Get the sphere," he said to his assistant.

The assistant nodded and went over to the cabinet, pulling a glass sphere from it. She returned and handed it to the magician, who had now opened the cage door.

He entered and knelt down over Paige. He muttered a spell, waving a hand over her chest. A golden ball of light rose out of Paige and entered the glass sphere. Getting up, the magician handed the sphere to his assistant. "Put it with the other one."

"Yes, sir," the assistant said, taking the sphere.

The magician went over to stand in front of the mirror that hung on the wall. "Master," he said. "The plan is proceeding as you foresaw. We now have two of the witches' souls."

The shadowed demon that had worked with Zoltar and the goblins appeared in the mirror. "Good. I knew they would come here once they found those records."

"Master," the magician said. "I have not asked many questions since I found you in that graveyard. But now I must ask... why don't we just kill this witch? It would be the end of the Charmed Ones once and for all."

"You know why," the shadowed demon hissed. "We need her. I need her; to help me and my siblings escape from this horrendous realm. Only with her and her sisters' power can we hope to get the key to the gateway that keeps me here."

The magician nodded. "Ah, yes. The key."

"Now," the demon said. "Is Temaka ready?"

The assistant, Temaka, stepped in front of the mirror. "I am."

"Good. Now use your power to enter the witch's body."

With a nod, Temaka went into the cage. She knelt down next to Paige, closing her eyes. Temaka's body turned into a gray mist that hovered in the air for a moment before shooting down into Paige's body. Temaka, now in control, opened Paige's eyes. She got up and went back to the mirror.

"Do you have complete control?" the shadowed demon asked.

Temaka stretched Paige's arms and wiggled her fingers. "Yeah, I think so," she said.

"What about her powers?" the magician asked. "You must have control of those before the plan can continue."

Temaka looked around. She spotted a plastic wand sitting on top of a cardboard box and held out her hand. "Wand!" The wand disappeared in a flurry of orbs and reappeared in Temaka's hand. She twirled the wand in her fingers and smiled. "Cool power."

"Use it wisely," the demon in the mirror said. "Now, you know what to do. Carry out the plan, but be careful to not let the witches find you out."

Temaka nodded and started for the exit.

"The scrolls!" the demon hissed. "Do not forget the scrolls we prepared. You'll need them."

"Right, right," Temaka said. She went to the cabinet and pulled out three scrolls. "I'll be back with the key in no time." She turned on her heel and went off up the stairs.

"Don't worry, master," the magician said. "She'll get the job done."

"She better."

-x-

Outside, Phoebe was pacing. The show had ended almost ten minutes before and Phoebe was starting to worry about her sister. "If anything happens to her," she muttered, "I'll never forgive myself for making her go up there."

Just then, Temaka, in Paige's body, came out. "Hey," she said with a small wave.

"Oh good, you're okay," Phoebe said. "Here, I held your purse for you," she said, handing it over.

"Thanks," Temaka said. "Now I don't have to carry these scrolls around."

Phoebe eyed the scrolls of parchment in Temaka's hand. "What are those?"

"Well I ran into a demon in the basement," Temaka said, stuffing the scrolls into Paige's purse.

"Does he work for the magician?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes, but the magician isn't a demon," Temaka lied. "This demon was a possessing demon. Would extract someone's soul and then posses their body and impersonate them."

"Wait," Phoebe said, holding up a hand. "Was?"

Temaka nodded. "I vanquished him after I got all the information that I could."

"So what did you find out?" Phoebe asked.

"He didn't take Prue's soul," Temaka answered. "But," she said, as Phoebe's face fell, "he did know who did take her."

"Really? Who?"

Temaka shrugged Paige's milky white shoulders. "He wouldn't say his name. All I could get out of him is that the guy's lair is very hard to get into. Without the key, he's the only one who can get in."

Phoebe frowned. "Key? What key."

"Oh, right." She pulled the scrolls back out of Paige's purse and handed them to Phoebe. "Got these off of the demon before I vanquished him. I already read over them. Apparently this demon is seriously paranoid. So he set up this gateway that only he could transport through. Then he made a key and split it into three pieces."

"Wow, that is paranoid," Phoebe said.

Temaka nodded. "It gets worse. He then embedded each piece into three separate servants of his, which are living in different parts of the world."

"Kasheeb, Vandral, and Axem," Phoebe said, reading the names off of the scrolls.

"Yep," Temaka said. "And the only way to get the pieces out of the servants is to vanquish them."

"Of course," Phoebe said. She handed the scrolls back to Temaka and sighed. "This is going to be a tough job."

"But anything to get Prue back, right?" Temaka said.

Phoebe nodded. "Right." She took Temaka by the hand and led her into a deserted alley. "Okay, let's get back to the manor. We can use these scrolls to scry for the demon servants." She waited and then looked over at who she thought was her sister. "What's wrong?"

Temaka had her eyes closed and her face was all scrunched up. "Nothing," she muttered. Truth was, she was worried about orbing and was trying to concentrate. Finally orbs covered her and Phoebe and they vanished from the alley.

-x-

Piper appeared in the Underworld in a swirl of white lights. Instantly she raised her hands up, ready for trouble. What she found was an aged demon sitting with a spoonful of porridge halfway to his mouth.

"Who are you?" the demon asked.

Piper ignored the question. "You Zerek?"

The demon set his spoon back into his bowl. "You're going to have to tell me who you are first."

"Piper. Piper Halliwell," she said.

"Charmed One," the demon snarled. He raised his hand to attack, but Piper raised up her own, stopping him.

"You obviously know who I am," she said. "So you must also know what I can do when I wave these hands of mine." She knew she couldn't vanquish him, having read in the Book that he could only be vanquished by the Power of Three. However, she could certainly damage him and the demon knew that.

Lowering his hand, the demon said, "What do you want?"

"You resurrect people right?" After getting a nod, she asked, "All kinds of people? Demons, humans, witches?"

"Yes," Zerek said. "I have had success with every being I have encountered."

"Good," Piper said. She seemed to be arguing silently with herself, not sure whether to ask the demon her next question or not.

"Well?" Zerek said. "What do you want?"

Piper took a deep breath and then said slowly, "I want you to resurrect my sister."

-x-

"She's not downstairs, either," Phoebe said, entering the attic.

Temaka stood at the pedestal, paging through the Book of Shadows. She felt a great honor by being one of the only demons to have ever had a look at the magical tome. There was so much information in it. Temaka was especially interested in the vanquishing potions that were listed. As a demon, she had quite a few enemies. Temaka made a mental note to write down some of the potions so she could use them against a few demons that wanted her dead.

"Paige?" Phoebe said loudly.

Temaka jolted and looked up. "Oh, sorry. What?"

"I said, 'Where do you think she could be?'" Phoebe said.

Temaka shrugged. "Maybe she went after a demon."

"But she would have called first," Phoebe said. "Well, at least she should have."

"Prue was, like, really important to Piper, right?" Temaka asked.

Phoebe nodded. "Of course."

"Well, maybe Piper is so focused on finding Prue that calling us just slipped her mind," Temaka said.

Phoebe bit her lip. "Yeah, maybe."

"Should we get started with scrying?" Temaka asked.

"Maybe we should wait for Piper," Phoebe said.

Temaka shook her head. "No, we can't wait. We know where Prue's soul is being held, but who knows how long it will be there? Who knows what that demon could do to her. We have to find her now."

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Okay, you make the scrying potion. I'll go over these scrolls to see if they say how to vanquish these guys."

"Uh, actually, I have to go to the bathroom," Temaka said hurriedly. "You get started on that potion and I'll be right back."

Temaka ran from the attic, stopping only when she got to the bottom of the stairs. She let out a sigh. "Keeping up pretenses is hard," she muttered to herself. "Especially when I have no idea how to make potions."

-x-

A laugh burst from Zerek's mouth, along with some spittle and bits of porridge. "Do you think I'm insane?" he asked Piper. "You want me to bring back a Charmed One?"

"I don't care about the whole Charmed thing," she said, grinding her teeth. "I just want my sister back. I read up on you in the Book of Shadows. I know you can do it."

The demon nodded. "Yes, with my knowledge of spells and potions, I do have the power to do it." He locked eyes with Piper as he said his next words. "But I won't."

Piper felt anger boiling up inside of her. She wanted so much to blow this demon to the Wasteland. But she decided to try a different approach. "If you won't do it yourself, maybe you can tell me how."

Zerek eyed her for a long moment. "The magics used in this are very dark. Very... evil. If you did this it could put you onto the path of darkness. It could turn you."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't care about the warning on the bottle. I want to do this. No, I need to do this."

Once again Zerek eyed her for a long moment. Finally he shook his head. "No. If I did this and demons found out then I would lose the respect that it has taken me years to gain. I would be a traitor."

"Maybe they'll find out, maybe they won't," Piper said. "But if you don't tell me how to do this then I will go home, get my sisters, and we'll come back and vanquish you. However, if you do help me, then I will make sure that we will never come after you."

Zerek mulled it over, stirring his porridge absentmindedly. "That is quite an offer."

"Damn straight."

Zerek dropped his spoon and got to his feet. "Alright." He made his way over to a large chest and opened it up. After rifling through it for a minute he pulled out a piece of parchment. "Here," he said, handing it to Piper. "This is a list of what you will need and directions for the ritual."

Piper looked over the parchment, frowning at some of the ingredients. "I've never even heard of some of this stuff."

Zerek nodded, grinning a yellowish grin. "Well, you would have no need for them in your daily witchy potions. This kind of stuff is for the big leagues."

Piper folded up the parchment and put it in her pocket. She turned to go, but paused. It turned her stomach to say it, but she decided that it was the right thing to do. "Thank you."

Zerek grinned again. "It was my pleasure."

-x-

Temaka and Phoebe orbed in in the midst of a jungle.

Temaka glanced around. "Are we sure we got the right place?"

Phoebe shrugged. "We scryed for Kasheeb and the crystal landed someplace in Africa." She waved her hands around. "This does look like Africa."

"Yeah, I was just thinking he would be in a more civilized place."

Phoebe frowned. "Civilized? He's a demon, Paige."

"Yeah. I know. I just..."

Luckily there were suddenly loud noises from up ahead.

"Is that cheering?" Phoebe asked.

"Only one way to find out."

The two of them made their way through the jungle until they came to a clearing. There was commotion everywhere. People eating and laughing, children running and playing. But most people were gathered on wooden risers, watching a fight go on in a ring that was in the center of the clearing.

"Hey," Phoebe said, pulling out the scroll with the information and a picture of Kasheeb on it. "Isn't that him?"

Temaka nodded. "Yeah, that's him."

"What is he doing?" Phoebe wondered out loud.

"He's doing what he always does," someone next to her said. "Demons come from all over to try and take Kasheeb down, but he is unstoppable. He always wins."

Just then Kasheeb slammed his fist into his opponent's chest. It went right through and the demon exploded. Cheers erupted from the crowd and Kasheeb grinned, raising his arms in triumph.

"Do you think we could talk to him?" Temaka asked.

The man laughed. "The only way you meet Kasheeb is in the ring."

Temaka pulled Phoebe aside. "I think we should do it."

"What? Are you crazy? Did you see what he just did?"

"Yeah," Temaka said with a nod. "But we need to kill him anyways to get the piece of the key that he has."

"True," Phoebe said. "But I've been in a ring like that before and let me tell you, it wasn't fun. I almost died."

"You almost die all the time. Now come on." Temaka latched onto the reluctant Phoebe and dragged her over to the man in charge of registration. "We'd like to sign up to fight Kasheeb. Well, actually, she would."

"Why me?" Phoebe whined.

"You're the one with the martial arts skills."

"Yeah, yeah." Phoebe sighed. "Give me those potions you brought."

"Ah, ah," the registration man said. "No potions or weapons. This is a physical fight to the death."

"Oh god," Phoebe muttered.

"Remember," Temaka said. "This is for Prue."

"You know, we were never that close."

Temaka glared. "Phoebe."

"Okay, okay!" She signed her name down on the piece of paper that the registration man held out to her. "So, when do I fight? Kasheeb must be pretty tired from that fight he just had."

The man shrugged. "No, not really. That was a pretty easy one for him. He should be ready in a few minutes."

"Oh god," Phoebe muttered again. She looked around and saw people whispering to one another. They pointed at Phoebe and at Kasheeb, then started pulling out money. "Are they placing bets?"

"Looks like it," Temaka said.

"Think they're betting on me to win?" Phoebe asked.

"Do you want the truth?"

"No."

"Then yes. They are all betting you will win." Temaka slapped Phoebe on the back. "You can do it."

"Okay, Paige? This is a fight to the death, not a little league game. Can't you come up with something a little more encouraging?"

Temaka thought for a moment. "Uh... kick his ass?"

"Better."

"Okay, get in there," the registration man said to Phoebe. "It's time for the fight."

"Already?" With no answer, Phoebe sighed and went into the ring.

"Now it's time for our next fight," an announcer said. "Kasheeb versus Brenda Hawthorn!"

"You changed your name?" Temaka asked from the sidelines.

"Well I wouldn't want them to recognize my real name."

"Good thinking," Temaka said with a nod.

"Let the fight begin!"

"Hi," Phoebe said to Kasheeb. Kasheeb only growled and swung a huge fist at her. Phoebe ducked and kicked out, sweeping Kasheeb's legs out from under him.

"Nice!" Temaka yelled. "Now go for the kill!"

"With what?" Phoebe yelled back. She yelped as Kasheeb jumped back to his feet and attacked her.

For several minutes the fight went on, Phoebe barely being able to hold Kasheeb off. Phoebe was getting tired, but she could see that Kasheeb was just fine. He lunged at her, but Phoebe levitated into the air. Taking a deep breath, she swipe kicked, her foot connecting with Kasheeb's jaw. She heard a crack and Kasheeb dropped to the ground, dust and dirt billowing up around him.

The announcer ran into the ring and checked Kasheeb. He then looked up at Phoebe. "He's dead; broken neck. You've won."

Temaka came into the ring as cheers erupted from the crowd. "You did it," she said.

"Yeah, but where's the piece of the key?" Phoebe asked.

Not a moment later Kasheeb's body disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a small golden handle of a key. Temaka snatched it up and grinned.

"Got it," she said happily.

"Great," Phoebe said. "Now let's get out of here before these people make me their new champion."

-x-

Piper entered the attic just as Phoebe and whom she thought was Paige orbed in.

"Piper," Phoebe said. "Where have you been?"

The oldest Halliwell knew she couldn't tell them what she was up to. They would never agree with her and would try to stop her. What's worse, they would probably tell Leo and she didn't want to be in a fight with her husband.

"I've been tracking leads," she said. "Where have you two been?"

"Tracking not a lead, but the true culprit," Phoebe said with a grin. "We got all the pieces of the key."

Piper frowned. "Huh? What key?"

Phoebe quickly explained the whole situation. "Now we have all the pieces and we're ready to go into the demon's lair."

"Wait," Piper said. "Do we have a vanquish for this demon? Or even know his name?"

"Well, not exactly," Temaka said. "But hey, we're the Charmed Ones. We can take him."

"Why don't we check the Book first," Piper said. "There has to be something on this guy or about the gateway."

"No, there isn't," Temaka said. "I checked."

"You did?" Phoebe asked. "When?"

"When you were on the phone with your boss downstairs. Right before we went after Kasheeb," Temaka said. "There's nothing in the Book."

"Well we can't just go in unprepared," Piper said.

"Look, time is running out," Temaka said. "Prue's soul is in danger."

"You're right," Phoebe said. "We can't waste anymore time. Prue needs us."

Piper sighed and then nodded. "Okay. How do we get to this gateway?"

"Like so." Temaka pulled the three pieces of the key out of her pocket. She placed them on a table and pushed them together. The pieces magically came together, making the key whole. Temaka picked it up and held it out in the air, twisting it. A swirling white portal opened up. "Let's go!" Temaka yelled over the wind.

Piper glanced at Phoebe and took her hand, following Temaka into the portal. When they came out they were in a large cavern. A huge black door was embedded into the far cavern wall.

"Finally," Temaka whispered. She made her way towards the door, but Leo suddenly orbed in front of her.

"Stop!" he said.

"Leo?" Piper said. "What are you doing here?"

"My charge had a vision," Leo said.

"Huh?" Piper said.

"Leo told Paige and me about her earlier," Phoebe said. "What was the vision about, Leo?"

"She said that she saw the Gateway of Dragons being opened," Leo said. "By you three."

"So?" Piper asked. "That's what we were about to do. Prue's soul is in there."

Leo shook his head. "No, she can't be. On the other side of that door is a realm that has held three demons captive for hundreds of years. If they get out... Let's just say it would be really bad."

"The scrolls Paige got from that demon said nothing about that," Phoebe said. "They said that three servants of a demon held three pieces of one key to his lair. For protection."

"That's not true," Leo said. "Yes, there are three servants of good that hold the keys to this gateway, but that's to make sure evil doesn't set these demons free."

"Oh god," Phoebe said, putting her hands over her face. "So those were good people we killed?"

Piper rubbed her sister's arm. "It's okay. You didn't know."

"Well," Temaka said. "I guess that demon must have lied to me."

"I just don't know why you three didn't check the Book of Shadows about this first," Leo said. "There is an entry on it."

"Paige said there wasn't," Piper said.

Everyone turned to Temaka.

Temaka gave a fake smile. "Ooops." She then orbed out and back in in front of the door, key in hand. Before she could unlock the door, though, Phoebe tackled her to the ground.

"Who are you?" Phoebe yelled, her arm against Temaka's throat.

"Technically," Temaka wheezed, "I'm Paige. I've got her body. Not to mention her powers." With that, she orbed out.

Phoebe got back to her feet. "Hurry, back to the manor." Running over to Piper and Leo, she took their hands and Leo orbed started to orb them out.

"Wait," Piper yelled. She threw out her hand and the key, that had fallen to the ground, exploded. "Guess the Elders never thought of that idea, huh?"

"Well..." Leo said.

"Thought so," Piper said.

"Come on," Phoebe said. "Paige is in danger."

Without wasting another second, Leo orbed them back to the manor.

-x-

"What is taking so long?" the demon in the mirror hissed.

"Don't worry, master," the magician said. "Temaka is in the body of a Charmed One with Charmed powers. There's no way she could fail."

Temaka suddenly orbed in, rubbing her throat. "I failed," she said. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry!" the shadowed demon yelled. "I've been waiting for hundreds of years to get out of here. Now I had my chance, but you failed and all you can say is you're sorry?"

Temaka shrugged. "I gave it my best shot. And truthfully, I'm actually not to sorry that I failed. Because if you got out of that realm, I would have to serve you." Placing her hands on her hips, she continued. "Guess what? I'm sick of serving other demons. I have the body and powers of a Charmed One. I have the ability to get their Book and use it to destroy my enemies. I could become the next Source."

"Oh no you don't," said the magician, shaking his head. "You will get out of that body right now. You work for me."

"Not anymore." Temaka pulled out a vial from her pocket. "Do you know what this is? It's a vanquishing potion. For you. I found it in the witches' Book of Shadows."

"You wouldn't."

Temaka smiled. "I would." She whipped her arm and the vial flew through the air. It slammed into the magician and he exploded in a burst of fire. "Now," she said, "time to get out of here."

"Not too fast," Piper said from behind her.

Temaka spun around to see Piper, Phoebe, and Leo. Behind her, the demon in the mirror faded away. Temaka started to orb out, but Phoebe threw a potion at her feet. Paige's body suddenly dropped to the floor and Temaka was left standing there.

"Hey," Phoebe said. "You're the magician's assistant."

"Ex-assistant," Temaka said. "He's dead."

"As you're about to be," Piper said.

"I don't think so." Temaka ran for the cabinet and threw it open to reveal the two trapped souls. She grabbed one up and held it close to her body. "Vanquish me and you'll vanquish one of your sisters."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Or..." She flicked her hands and Temaka froze. "Phoebe?"

"I'm on it." Phoebe went and took the trapped soul away from Temaka and stepped back. "Fire away."

"With pleasure." Piper flicked her hands again and Temaka exploded into a thousand black shards. Walking over to the cabinet she picked up the other soul. "Okay," she said, looking at Leo. "How do we set them free?"

"Just smash the spheres," Leo said.

Phoebe and Piper glanced at one another and then threw the spheres down on the floor. They smashed open, one ball of light shooting into Paige, and the other forming into Prue's spirit.

Paige gasped and sat up. "What happened?"

"Well," Piper said. "As far as we can tell, your soul was extracted from your body so a demon could inhabit it and pose as you to try and get us to free some other demons by opening..." She looked to Leo. "What was it called?"

"The Gateway of Dragons," Leo said.

"Right," Piper said.

"Is the demon dead?" Paige asked, getting to her feet.

Phoebe nodded. "Two demons, actually. Apparently she killed her boss."

"Great, good," Paige said, nodding. "One more question. How come you didn't realize that wasn't me?"

"Come on, Paige," Phoebe said. "It's not like we were sitting around having a sisterly chat. We were vanquishing who we thought were demons..." She sighed and blinked away some tears, still torn up about what she had done.

"And I was barely with the demon you," Piper said. "I was trying to... find Prue on my own." She looked at her floating sister.

"Now you have," Prue said with a smile. "But I think I should go."

"Why?" Phoebe asked.

"Because I'm not completely sure it's safe," Prue said.

"Prue's right," Leo said. "If that first demon knew yesterday was the anniversary of Prue's death and that she would most likely come, then maybe others know as well. They'll be lurking around for her. Especially around the house."

"So I'll wait a little while longer," Prue said. "Until it is safe for me to return."

"Hurry back," Paige said.

Prue smiled. "I will." Looking upward, she disappeared in a swirl of white lights.

Phoebe wiped away some tears and looked at Piper. "Are you okay?"

Piper nodded. "I'm fine. I'm positive we'll be seeing her soon."

"Well," Leo said. "I better get back to my other charge. That last vision took a lot out of her, so she's very vulnerable right now."

"Tell her thank you," Phoebe said.

Leo nodded. "I will. I'll be back tonight. My turn with her is just about over." He embraced Piper and kissed her. "So I'll be around more."

Piper smiled. "Good. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." Again, he kissed Piper, and then orbed out.

"Okay," Paige said. "I may not have been in my body for awhile, but it is very tired."

"Mine too," Phoebe said, rubbing her shoulder. "I feel like I could sleep forever." Her phone rang and she pulled it out, looking at the number. "Except I can't. Elise is probably calling about my next column. Guess I'll have to work on that tonight."

"Sucks to be you," Paige said.

"It does," Phoebe agreed, turning off her phone.

"Let's get going then," Piper said. "I have some stuff to do myself."

Paige took her sisters' hands and orbed them out.

Over in the mirror, the shadowed demon appeared. "When I get out of here, the first thing I'm going to do is kill those witches."

-x-

Late that night, candles burned, placed in a circle on a cold, hard floor. A pair of of boots passed by not only them, but a framed photo that sat in front of them. A hand reached down a picked up the photo, tears dripping onto the glass.

"Oh, Prue," Piper whispered. "I hope I'm doing the right thing."

She set the photo down and looked over at a white casket that sat on the floor of the mausoleum. She hadn't dared to open it, fearful of what she would find. A body, rotted away by time. If she had laid eyes on it, she might have stopped what she was doing.

"But her body should return to normal," Piper said to herself. "That's what the ritual is supposed to do. Everything will be fine," she assured herself.

With a sigh, she pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and began to read. "Hear these words, hear my cry. Spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the great divide."

A wind whipped through the room and Prue's spirit appeared in the circle of candles. "Piper," she said, confusion creasing her ghostly face. "What am I doing here?"

Piper didn't answer her. Instead, she pulled out a potion vial, which was filled with a blood red liquid. Truth was, some of it was blood. Extracting the parchment that Zerek had given her, she began the ritual. "Soul of a lost one, I command you. Blend yourself with this concoction."

"Wha--"

Prue was cut off as she was suddenly sucked into the potion vial. The contents inside started to glow and pulse. Piper threw the vial onto the casket. It broke open, spilling the liquid, which was now writhing, over the casket. It stained like wine on a silk shirt.

"Bleed through," Piper read. "And enter the vessel. By darkness, by blood, return what was lost. Return soul, return life... Return the vessel to how it once was. Return!" As Piper yelled this last word, the potion seeped through the casket, leaving no trace of it having been there.

Piper waited. The silence was killing her. Finally... _Thump_.

Piper dropped the parchment and ran to the casket. She fumbled with the latch, finally releasing it, and threw the lid open. Prue shot up into a sitting position, gasping for breath, tears streaming down her face. Piper grabbed her into a hug.

"It's okay," she whispered, tears now falling down her face as well. "It's going to be all right. You're home."

**_End of Episode 5.5: Lost Soul_**


	6. Episode Six: Deadly Consequences

_**Episode 5.6: Deadly Consequences**_

Darkness. That's all there was. No sound, no light; nothing. Prue didn't understand what had happened. Her memory was hazy, something that hadn't happened since she was alive. As a spirit she had full access to her memories.

On one of the first days after she had died, Prue had pulled up the memory of her own birth. It was disgusting, yes, but also beautiful and amazing. She knew exactly what she had been thinking at the time. Well, not thinking, exactly. It was more instinctual feelings of cold and confusion. Some people wonder why babies cry when they are first born, but Prue understood right then. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket. You are cozy and know you are safe. Then some unknown force pushes you out the door, into a freezing snow storm, naked. Crying is only natural.

But now everything in Prue's mind was cloudy. Not only that, her head hurt. It actually _hurt_. Something which was completely impossible as a spirit. That was, strange as it may sound, another thing she loved about being dead. No pain, no suffering. Peace was all there was and it was wonderful.

Prue moved her arm and recoiled when she felt something, another thing that wasn't supposed to happen when your dead. She hadn't physically touched something in over a year. Something was wrong.

After a moment she found that she was blocked on all sides and was laying down.

_Where the hell am I? _she thought.

Panic started to creep into her mind. She hated it when she was panicked. It hadn't happened in so long, but she still hated it. Being levelheaded was something she took pride in, and even when she wasn't she didn't let anyone else know.

Prue placed a hand on the surface above her. It was soft, but firm. She pushed on it, but nothing happened. She pushed harder. Again, nothing. The panic started to overwhelm her and, as much as she hated it, tears started to leak from her eyes. Pulling back a fist, Prue slammed a punch into the cushioned surface.

_Thump_.

Moments later she heard something. A latch was being unlocked and suddenly... Light! Unbearable light! But there was air and she suddenly realized that she needed it. Prue shot up, gasping for the precious oxygen.

Someone grabbed her in an embrace and shushed her.

"It's okay," they whispered. "It's going to be all right. You're home."

Prue knew that voice. She pulled back and stared into the face of her sister.

"Piper?"

"Oh, thank God," Piper said. "I was so afraid that it wouldn't work right and you would come back wrong. But you recognize me."

"Of course I do," Prue said. "But what is going on? The last thing I remember..." She paused. What was the last thing she remembered? The pounding in her head made it hard to focus. She looked around, taking in the room.

It wasn't as bright as it had seemed a moment ago. The only light was from a circle of candles and the pale light of the moon, shining in through a window. The room was void of any furniture, excluding a few marble benches. The walls, however, were fully decorated with some kind of plaques.

_No_, Prue thought. _Not plaques_.

She looked down at what she was sitting in and screamed, scrambling out of the casket. She knew where she was and she now remembered everything.

"You summoned me here," she said to Piper. "Said something off of a piece of paper and then..."

Piper nodded. Her face was wet with tears, but a smile was on her face. "I brought you back, Prue," she said. "I finally found a way to do it."

"How could you?" Prue asked. She shook her head. "No, on second thought, how dare you?"

Piper's smile faded. "What?"

"Piper, do you have any idea what you've done?"

"I brought you back..." Piper said, confused.

"But I was happy!" Prue yelled. "Do you know how peaceful it was where I was? We're not really allowed to talk about it, but it's paradise. Now look where I am."

"With me," Piper said, hurt. "Is that so bad? I'm sorry I pulled you away from your perfect afterlife. You're right, here it sucks. I have to deal with it everyday and I can't do it alone. I have Phoebe and Paige, but you are my rock. I need you."

Prue sighed. "Piper, it was my time."

"Was it? I don't believe that. Someone's _time_ is when they are old and have lived their lives. You didn't have a chance to live your's. Now you do."

Prue just stared.

"Come on, Prue. You can't tell me that you never wished to have a second chance. To come back and do more with your life. Continue your career... to find love. To be with me and Phoebe again. To have a chance to bond with your baby sister."

Prue bit her lip. She couldn't lie. She had wished for those things, but had pushed them aside since she was dead. But now...

"I just don't know if this is right," Prue whispered. "There are rules..."

"You once said that rules were meant to be broken," Piper said. "Won't you break this one to be with your family again?"

Prue stared at her sister for a long moment, comptemplating. A new life... it was tempting. A crooked smile appeared on her lips. "Okay," said. "For my family."

Piper smiled and grabbed her sister in a hug.

Prue hugged her back. Now this was something she had really missed. There was no hugging when you're dead.

-x-

Prue stared out the kitchen window, just watching the world in the early morning light. In her hand was a cup of coffee. She had forgotten how much she had loved it. She smiled as she remembered a conversation she had had with Grams, not long after her death.

Prue had been watching the manor from far away. Very far away, as a matter of fact. But she could still see everything so clearly. A birds nest in the gutter, paint peeling off the side of the house, her old car in the driveway. Distance didn't matter anymore.

Grams came up behind her. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Prue smiled and turned around. "You always hated that saying."

Grams shrugged. "Only when it was said to me. So, what's on your mind?"

Prue turned away, gazing back at the manor. "Nothing... and everything. It's morning and I should be sitting in that kitchen, reading the paper and drinking coffee." She stood silent for a moment and then continued. "I miss coffee, Grams. I want coffee, I need it. I... I can't survive without it."

"Are we really talking about coffee?" Grams asked.

Prue turned. "You know what I'm talking about."

Grams nodded. "Your sisters."

"How am I supposed to live without them?" Prue asked.

"Not really living..."

"No jokes right now, Grams," Prue said, turning away again. "I saw them everyday, talked to them. How can that all just stop? I need my sisters." She raised a hand to her face. "This is the part where I should be crying. But there's nothing."

"No liquids in the afterlife, dear," Grams said.

Prue spun around. "Can't I just go see them? Please?"

"No," Grams said, holding up a finger. "The rules were explained to you. You can't visit them until the anniversary of your death."

"That's stupid," Prue retorted.

"But it's important. They need time to be able to move on. Time to grow. Time to find and accept their new sister."

Prue shook her head. "I can't believe you never told us."

"I couldn't," Grams said.

Prue nodded. "I know. I just wish I had met her before..." She turned away and looked back at the manor. "There they go... Off to my funeral." She laughed. "That's sounds so weird."

Grams laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be hard. But I know you, Prue. You can handle it. I did and so did your mother."

"Where is mom, anyways?" Prue asked.

Grams shrugged. "Oh, I think she's off talking to Ben Franklin, or some other historic person."

"Hey, can I meet him?"

"Sure," Grams said. She started to lead Prue off. "He's actually quite nice. Kind of a quack, though. The man thinks he discovered electricity. HA! I actually know who discovered it. She's now quite a good friend of mine."

"Oh, Grams..."

Prue slid into one of the kitchen chairs as the memory faded. After taking a sip of her coffee, she set it down and picked up the newspaper. Just like old times.

Phoebe came into the room, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Okay, Piper," she said, not seeing that it was Prue and just going about her morning business. "I'm just going to warn you that I'm in a really bad mood, so watch out. I was woken up this morning by a call from Elise. She wants me to come in and not only get my next column done, but also redo some of my last one."

Phoebe pulled a box of cereal and a bowl from the cupboard and started to fill it up. Popping some of the Cherrios in her mouth, Phoebe turned to the fridge as she continued.

"I mean, how do you rewrite advice? What I wrote is what I think is right and I don't know what else I would say." She poured milk on her cereal and then pretty much threw the carton back into the fridge. "Not only am I angry about that, but I'm worried about Cole. He's been gone for a week and I have heard nothing from him." She picked up her bowl and started to bring it over to the table. "I have no idea if--AH!" Phoebe screamed and dropped her bowl as she finally saw who was sitting at the table.

"Hi, Phoebe," Prue said.

Phoebe took up a fighting stance, which looked pretty strange with her dressed in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers. "Who the hell are you? Some sort of shapeshifter demon?"

Prue stood up slowly. "No, Phoebe, it's me. Prue."

Phoebe laughed. "Do you not get the news where you come from? My sister Prue died over a year ago. So you're not going to get anywhere with that costume. You should have tried Piper."

Prue sighed. "Phoebe, seriously. It's me."

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "You sure are a persistent demon. Okay, I'll bite. Prove to me that you're Prue."

Prue bit her lip as she thought. "Um... Okay, guess they would have to be things no one else would know."

"Ya think?"

"Right. Okay. When we were kids, Piper had this stuffed rabbit that she loved. But you loved it a lot, too, and would always steal it from her. Especially at bed time. You could never go to sleep without it."

Phoebe lowered her arms, but just a little.

"And you would always paint your toenails the colors of the rainbow," Prue continued. "Oh, and when you were seven, you were practicing being a super hero and kicked a lamp. Got a small scar on your left ankle."

"Oh my god," Phoebe gasped, dropping her arms. "It is you."

Paige and Leo ran into the room just then.

"We heard you scream," Paige said. She then caught sight of Prue. "Demonic shapeshifter!" She held out her hand and called for a knife. Once it had materialized, she pulled back her arm to throw it.

"No!" Phoebe yelled. "That's really Prue."

Paige looked stunned, along with Leo.

"What?" he said. "How?"

"Piper," Prue said. "She... brought me back."

Everyone turned as Piper came into the room, a smile on her face.

"Yep," she said. "I did it. I found a way."

"But there isn't a way," Leo said. "Not a safe way. She could have come back wrong."

"Hello, Leo, standing right here," Prue said. "I didn't come back wrong. I'm fine."

"Oh my god," Paige said, a grin spreading across her face. She dropped the knife on the table and grabbed Prue in a hug.

"Oh, okay!" Prue gasped. "Don't want to be dead, again, thanks."

"Oh." Paige let go. "Sorry. I'm just so happy that I finally get to meet you and you're not all glowy and see-through."

"Same here," Prue said, smiling.

"Piper, can I talk to you?" Leo asked, taking Piper by the arm and leading her out into the foyer. "Okay, what did you do?"

Piper slipped her arm out of Leo's grasp. "I told you. I found a way to bring her back."

"That is not an answer," Leo said, firmly.

"Well it's all your getting," Piper snapped. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get dressed." With that, she stomped off up the stairs.

Leo sighed. "I better report this," he said to himself, orbing out.

Back in the kitchen, Phoebe was busy cleaning up the broken bowl and mess of cereal on the floor while Paige and Prue sat at the table.

"So," Paige said. "What's your favorite color?"

"Bla--"

"Who's your favorite celebrity?"

"Geor--"

"What's your favorite food?"

"Okay, sweetie?" Prue said. "If you want to know the answers, you have to pause to actually let me talk."

Paige blushed. "I'm sorry. I just want to know so much about you. We just have to spend the whole day talking."

"What about work?" Phoebe asked, dumping broken bits of bowl into the trash.

"Work, schmerk," Paige said, waving a dismissive hand. "How can you even think about work when your sister has come back from the dead?"

"I just don't want to lose my job," Phoebe said. "I... I should go get dressed."

Paige rolled her eyes once Phoebe was gone. "She tends to get a little wrapped up in her work sometimes."

Prue nodded. "I used to get like that all the time."

"Well I can tell you one thing," Paige said. "I'm not going in to work today. I may have missed the last few days because of all the chaos around here, but screw it. I'm spending the day with you."

Her phone suddenly started to ring and Paige groaned as she picked it up to answer it.

"Hello?" she said.

"Paige, this is your boss," came an angry voice. "Remember me?"

"Of course I do, Mr. Cowen," Paige said.

Prue winced. "He sounds angry," she whispered.

Paige nodded.

"Really?" Mr. Cowen asked. "Because you've been absent from work so much that I would think you would have forgotten who I am. But I've not forgotten you."

"Look, Mr. Cowen. I really can't--"

"Don't you say it," Mr. Cowen said. "You _will_ be coming into work today, whether you are sick or not. I have a case just for you."

"But--"

"No. I will see you soon. Don't be late." _Click_.

Paige groaned, setting the phone down. "I'm sorry, but I really have to go to work."

Prue shrugged. "It's fine."

"But I'll try to get off early. Then we can stay up all night, eating ice cream and swapping stories."

"I'm looking forward to it."

Paige got up and left and Prue went back to reading the paper.

-x-

Zerek shimmered into a large chamber, lit by several torches that were enchanted so they would never go out. Three raised chair sat against one wall, with three demons perched upon them. This was the high council. What was left of it.

Many of the demons from the inner core were destroyed by the Seer's uncontrollable baby. That instance had set the Underworld back far too much in the fight against evil. Chaos filled the demonic world with no leader to guide it.

These three, however, had come together to bring order to the Underworld. Slowly, they were succeeding. Some were even starting to call them the new Triad.

"My lords," Zerek said, bowing.

"You may stand," said the center demon.

His name was Razor; a nick name, actually. It came from his power, which could make his hand so hot that he could slice through someone like a razor sharp knife with just the smallest slap of the hand.

"You are one of the most respected demons," Razor said. "You need not bow. Now, what brings you to our chamber?"

"I have news," Zerek said. "About the Charmed Ones."

You would have to look closely, but if you did, you might be able to see all three of the seated demons flinch.

"It better not be another insane plot against them," said the demon seated to the right of Razor.

This came from a female demon named Fantal. She was extremely beautiful and some wondered how she could be called a demon. That was until they looked into her eyes, which shown evil that could send a chill through someone's entire body. Quite literally, in fact. Most demons knew not to look into her eyes for too long, otherwise they would be turned to ice.

"Don't misinterpret my words," she said, casting her gaze over Zerek, who looked away. "I am not afraid of them. But right now the Underworld is in chaos. Just a few days ago the Charmed Ones and another witch caused an explosion that wiped out a small section of our realm, killing many demons. We can't afford to risk something like that again by provoking the witches."

"But they will soon be vulnerable," Zerek said. "See, I helped the oldest Charmed One resurrect her lost sister."

"What!" all three demons yelled, causing the room to shake.

"How could you do this, Zerek?" Razor asked. "You have betrayed us! The Charmed Ones are almost unstoppable as it is and you help bring one of them back? Who knows what they could do with four of them?"

"Ah, ah, ah," Zerek chuckled, waggling a finger. "It's called the Power of _Three_ for a reason." He then proceeded to tell them his plan, and smiles started to appear on the faces of the three demons. "But we need to keep constant watch on their house so we can know the exact moment to make our move."

"I can arrange that," spoke the third demon, Bentar.

Bentar was a small demon. Someone you would think would not be good in a fight, much less someone who could be on the high council. However, he had a talent that made him quite lethal. Bentar had the power to control minds. Not all minds, of course. Demons like Razor and Fantal were immune. Yet there were many lower level demons who were not. This gave Bentar the ability to amass a good sized army of demons to do his will.

"I shall summon a few of my best spies and put them on the job," he said.

"Good," Zerek said with a nod. "Once it is time, have them summon me. I wish to deal with this personally."

Razor gave a small nod. "As you wish. But, I must warn you, Zerek. You may be greatly respected and an asset to the Underworld. Yet if you fail and provoke the witches into retaliating..." He raised his hand and slammed it into the rock face behind his chair. The rock melted away like butter. "Understand?"

Zerek swallowed and nodded. "Completely."

-x-

"You know, Prue, you didn't really have to accompany me to work."

Piper and Prue came down the stairs of P3, arms linked.

"Really," Piper said. "It's not going to be very exciting. I'm just going to go over the books."

"It'll be exciting for me. I just want to spend time with you and find out what you've been up to," Prue said. She took a seat on one of the bar stools while Piper went behind the bar.

"Well," Piper said, pulling a scheduling book out from beneath the counter. "Let's see... The biggest news is that I'm pregnant, but I'm sure you already--"

"Wait, what!"

"Guess not," Piper mused.

"Oh my god," Prue said. "This is wonderful! How far along are you?"

"A few months," Piper said. "I'm not even showing yet."

"Have you had morning sickness?" Prue asked.

Piper nodded. "Oh yeah. But not recently. I've just been so focused on other things lately."

"What about Leo? How's he?"

Piper looked up from the book. "He's very happy. He even built a nursery. Well, a construction crew did, but he did the finishing touches. I can't believe you didn't notice the added on part of our house."

Prue shrugged. "I did, but I just hadn't gotten around to asking yet."

"Uh huh."

"So, what about this place?" Prue asked, looking around. "Still as successful as ever?"

"Not really," Piper said. "I just haven't really been into keeping it up to par recently. Not even sure I want to keep it."

Prue frowned. "Why not?"

Piper shrugged. "I don't know if it's the hormones, but something is making me realize that I'm just not happy with this place. It's just not me. I was supposed to be a chef."

"You still can be," Prue said.

"How?" Piper asked. "I can't just completely change careers right now. That would not be financially smart."

"Well," Prue said slowly. "How about you change this place into a restaurant? Better yet... Why not have it be a restaurant during the day and have it be the club at night?"

"What?" Piper said, raising her eyebrows. "That's crazy."

"Is it?"

"It would be confusing for people," Piper said.

"I don't think so," Prue said. "I've seen places like that before. You could be the owner and head chef during the day and then have your manager handle the club at night."

Piper thought it over. "It's not a bad idea..."

"Have I ever had a bad idea?" Prue asked with a wry smile.

"Oh shush," Piper said. "I'll think about it."

"Great," Prue said, getting up. "I think I'm going to go for a walk."

"Okay," Piper said. "I'll be back at the manor for lunch. Want to meet me there?"

"Sure," Prue said. "See you then."

After Prue Left, Piper got back to work. She didn't get very far, though, for Leo orbed in just a few minutes later.

"Hey," Piper said, looking up. "What's up?"

"What's up?" Leo mocked. He looked angry. "How can you be so casual after what you did?"

"Leo, what are you--"

Leo held up something in his hand; a piece of paper.

"I found this in your pant's pocket. It's a ritual to bring someone back from the dead. A dark ritual."

"I can't believe you," Piper said. She shut the scheduling book and came out from behind the bar. "You're snooping around my stuff now?"

"After I told the Elders what happened they suggested I look for anything that might tell us how you brought Prue back," Leo said.

"So you're their spy now?"

"No, Piper, but I still work for them." Leo shook his head. "I can't believe you did this. You used dark magic! _Evil_ magic!"

"So what!"

"So what?" Leo repeated. "Piper, a witch who uses evil magic can be corrupted. They can be turned evil."

"But I used it for a good cause," Piper shot back.

"It doesn't matter what you used it for! It's still evil!"

"So you're saying I should have just left Prue dead?" Piper asked.

"Yes, Piper. It was her time."

"Why does everyone keep saying that!" Piper yelled. "It was not her time. I don't care what anyone says, it wasn't."

"But--"

"No!" Piper yelled, holding up a finger. "The Book, not to mention all good magic, failed me. I found a way to bring back my sister and there is no way in hell I'm going to let you tell me that what I did was wrong."

"It was wrong," Leo said. "You have to understand that."

"No."

"Piper..."

"Get out of my club!" Piper screamed. "Now!"

Leo stood for a moment, staring at his wife, a mix of emotions on his face. Finally, without another word, he orbed out.

Left alone, Piper collapsed on a bar stool and started to cry.

-x-

"Paige, glad you could make it." Mr. Cowen had on a very fake smile as Paige came into the office.

"I'm not," Paige muttered, setting her purse down on her desk.

"What was that?"

Paige shook her head. "Nothing."

Mr. Cowen sighed. "You know, Paige, I gave you this job for a reason. Because I thought you could do it. Now I'm not so sure. You've called in sick the past two days and you even tried to do it again today. I don't know what's wrong, but you have to get your act together."

"So what's this case you have for me?" Paige asked, changing the subject.

"It's right over there." Mr. Cowen turned and pointed to his office.

Paige looked and could see three people sitting in the room through the office's window. Two adults, male and female, and one kid, who looked about thirteen.

"What about them?" she asked.

"That's Mr. and Mrs. Jenson. They are foster parents to Kevin, the kid with them. They're having some... problems with him."

"What kind of problems?" Paige asked.

"Kevin lost his parents years ago," Mr. Cowen said. "But he doesn't believe that they are actually dead."

"How'd they die?"

"Several eye witnesses saw their car go off a cliff," Mr. Cowen explained. "It exploded when it hit the ground. The terrain around there was so bad that police couldn't get to it for several days and there was a rock slide before they did. Everything was completely destroyed by the time they got to the car. Couldn't even get enough remains of the parents for a proper burial. Just some burnt up clothes, a few hairs, teeth. Not much left."

"That's horrible," Paige said.

Mr. Cowen nodded. "Kevin was staying with some friends at the time. Anyways, he doesn't believe his parents are dead and he says he will only listen to them. He hasn't obeyed any of his foster parents and he gets so destructive that none of them keep him for very long."

"Has he had counseling?" Paige asked.

"Tons. But he still won't listen and sometimes starts to trash the counselor's office."

"So what do you think I can do?"

"I know that you lost your parents," Mr. Cowen said. "I thought you could talk to Kevin. Since you have had the same experience maybe you can get through to him and help him move on."

Paige shrugged. "I'll try."

Mr. Cowen led Paige into the office. "Kevin, I have someone I want you to meet. This is Paige."

"Hi Kevin," Paige said with a smile and a small wave.

Kevin didn't answer. He just stared at her.

"I thought you might want to talk to her," Mr. Cowen said. He motioned to the Jensons, who followed him out of the office.

"So," Paige said, sitting down on the edge of the desk. "How are you today?"

"How about we skip all that crap?" Kevin said. "Just get to your point. You're just another person who is going to try and convince me that my parents are dead. I'm no going to believe it. It's this whole routine, so can we just get it over with?"

Paige didn't know what to say. Kevin was obviously not afraid to say what was on his mind. His voice was also filled with a lot of anger.

"Um, look, I just think I know what you're going through."

Kevin laughed. "You do, huh?"

Paige nodded. "I lost my parents, too. In a car accident, just the same as your's."

"No," Kevin said, shaking his head. "Not the same. My parent's aren't dead?"

"Kevin, people saw their car go off the cliff," Paige said. "The explosion, the rock slide. No one could have survived that. They even have remains of your parents." She knew that it must hurt him to hear that, but it had to be said.

"They think they have their remains," Kevin said. "But what they do have is so badly damaged that they can't identify the remains."

"But--"

"No, it wasn't them, okay?" Kevin said. "Maybe someone stole the car or maybe they faked their deaths. I don't know. But what I do know is that they are alive."

"How?" Paige asked.

"I just... I have this feeling," Kevin said with a shrug.

"Kevin, you have to face the facts," Paige said.

"You know what?" Kevin said, standing up suddenly. "I'm getting really sick of people telling me what to do. The only ones who can do that are my parents. I know they'll come find me. I just have to get their attention."

"How do you plan to do that?"

Kevin stuck his right hand in his coat and pulled out a gun, pointing it at Paige. "Like this."

-x-

"Knock, knock."

Phoebe looked up from her office computer to see Prue standing at the door.

"Oh my god, Prue." She leaped up from her chair and ran over to her sister, pulling her into the office and closing the door. "What are you doing here?" she asked, closing the blinds.

"I just thought I'd visit you," Prue said, taking a seat on the couch. "Piper told me about you getting this job. Let me just say, I am so proud of you. You have found a job that truly fits you."

"Yeah, that's great," Phoebe muttered, sitting back down behind her desk. "But, Prue, you can't be here."

"Why not?"

Phoebe raised her eyebrows. "Are you kidding me? Prue, you're dead!"

"Not anymore," Prue said with a meek shrug.

"That's not the point. Prue, if people find out you're alive then we could be exposed. Breezing on into a newspaper bullpen is not the best way to keep a low profile!"

"So what am I supposed to do, Phoebe?" Prue asked. "Stay in the manor all the time?"

"I don't know!" Phoebe yelled. "I'm not the one that brought you back from the dead!" Phoebe sighed as she saw Prue's stricken look. "I'm sorry. I'm just really on edge right now."

"Cole?"

Phoebe gave a frustrated laugh. "You haven't been around for over a year and yet my biggest problem is still Cole. Wow, that's sad."

Prue shook her head. "No, it's not. Most relationships don't last very long. Your's has lasted for over two years, even with all the road bumps. That shows how much you really love each other."

"You know about all the road bumps?" Phoebe asked.

"Yep," Prue said with a nod. "Piper filled me in on our way to the club. It was a lot to take in on a ten minute drive. Although, we did stop for gas, so that helped."

"You stopped for gas? There are security cameras there!"

"Pheebs, stop."

"No," Phoebe said. "That's exactly what I can't do. I have a lot of work to do and I don't have time to worry about you and people finding out you're not dead."

"So... you want me to go?" Prue asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry, but yes."

"Okay," Prue said. She got to her feet and put her hand on the door knob. "I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah," Phoebe said, already back to typing.

Prue let out a small sigh and left.

-x-

Paige slowly held up her hands. "Kevin, what are you doing?"

"I told you!" Kevin yelled. "Getting my parents' attention. Now get out into the main room," he said, motioning with the gun.

"Okay, okay! Just be careful with that thing." Paige kept her hands up while she walked out of the office.

"Paige?" Mr. Cowen started to come up to her and Kevin, but Kevin pointed the gun at him. "Whoa!"

"Stay back," Kevin said.

Heads started to turn. Paige heard someone scream.

"Kevin!" Mrs. Jenson yelled. "What are you doing?"

"None of you believe that my parents are alive," Kevin said. "I'm going to prove it. You," he said to Mr. Cowen. "Call the police and the press. Tell them everything. NOW!"

Mr. Cowen nodded and grabbed up a phone, dialing 911.

"Kevin," Paige said. "You don't have to do this."

"No, I think I do," Kevin said. "I'm going to make this such a big news story that my parents are bound to hear about it. When they do they should come here. Then, and only then, will I stop."

-x-

Prue rushed into the manor and closed the door behind her. Leaning against it she wheezed, "Phew. That was close."

"What was close?" Piper asked, coming in from the dining room. "Where have you been? I was started to get worried."

"Well I _did_ walk," Prue said. "You could go a little faster with a car."

"Yeah, but you left P3 two hours ago," Piper said.

"I went to see Phoebe. Not that she was happy about it."

Piper frowned. "Why not?"

"Said some stuff about people seeing me in public and recognizing me," Prue said. "She's right, too. I almost got caught when I was walking home."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

Prue slipped off her leather jacket and put it on the coat peg. She was so glad that Piper had kept all of her clothes. She went into the living room and Piper followed, the two of them sitting down on the couch.

"Someone I used to work with at 415 magazine saw me," Prue said.

"Oh no," Piper said. "What did you do?"

"Well she asked if I was related to... me. I deepened my voice, said no... then pointed and yelled, 'Look! It's Brad Pitt!'"

Piper laughed. "You didn't."

"I did," Prue said with a nod. "Luckily the guy I pointed at actually looks a lot like Brad Pitt. Caused enough of a commotion so I could get away."

"Wow."

Prue nodded and looked solemnly at the floor. "Maybe Phoebe is right. I can't go out in public when I'm supposed to be dead. But on the other hand... what am I supposed to do?"

Piper shook her head. "I don't know. But we'll figure it out. For now, what do you say I whip up something spectacular for lunch?"

"Can it be brownies?" Prue asked. "I've missed brownies."

"We actually have brownies."

Prue grinned and jumped up from the couch, running to the kitchen.

"Prue, wait!" Piper called after her. "You have to eat something healthy first! You don't want to go back to being dead again so quickly!"

-x-

Paige sat on the edge of her desk, arms crossed. Around her people were whispering to one another. Some were talking about plans to try and get the gun away from Kevin. Others just sat crying.

Kevin himself was on the phone. Police from outside had called just a few minutes earlier. Kevin was now telling them that he didn't want to hurt anyone, he just wanted his parents.

"Maybe they'll come on their own," Kevin said. "But maybe not. I want you to try and find them. Really try. I don't want to hurt anyone, but if you don't do your best to find my parents... then I'll have no choice." He hung up.

"Kevin," Paige said.

"I don't want to hear it, Paige," Kevin said. "You can't change my mind, so you might as well stop trying."

Paige sighed. "I was just going to ask if I could go to the bathroom."

Kevin considered it. "Are there any windows in there?"

Paige shook her head. "Nope."

"Okay, you can go. Just hurry."

Paige got up and went into the bathroom. Once the door was closed behind her she orbed out, reappearing in the kitchen of the manor.

"Hey Paige," Piper said.

She and Prue were sitting at the table. A plate full of brownies sat in front of Prue, who's mouth was already caked with frosting.

"Do you want a sandwich?" Piper asked.

"Or a brownie?" Prue asked, holding out up while chewing on another.

"No," Paige said, shaking her head. "I don't have much time, but we have a problem."

"Oh crap," Piper moaned. "Demons?"

"No, a kid."

"Huh?" Piper asked.

Paige quickly explained the whole situation. "So I was thinking that maybe you could try to find his parents."

"But I thought you said they were dead," Prue said.

"Kevin doesn't think so," Paige said. "He really thinks they are alive. So maybe you two can help find out the truth. We do have magic at our disposal. Should be able to find out something a lot faster than the police."

"Okay," Piper said with a nod. "We'll try."

"Thanks," Paige said. "I better get back." With that, she orbed out.

"So what do we do?" Prue asked.

"You wipe off your face," Piper said, handing Prue a napkin. "I'm going to call my husband. Leo!" She waited, but Leo didn't appear. "Leo, I know you're mad at me, but this has nothing to do with us, so get down here!"

"He's mad at you?" Prue asked.

"Never mind," Piper said as Leo orbed in.

"What is it?" Leo asked, not sounding too concerned.

Piper explained the problem. "So can you go ask the Elders to see if they know of a way we could find his parents?"

"Yeah, sure." Leo then orbed out.

"Now we wait," Piper said, starting to clean up.

"Ah, nothing like waiting for the Elders," Prue said. "Good times."

Phoebe then came in through the back door. "Hey," she said.

"Perfect," Piper said. "You're home in time to help."

"Uh oh," Phoebe said. "Why do I have the feeling that there is something magical afoot?"

"Short version?" Piper said. "Paige and the rest of the social services are being held hostage by a kid with a gun. He believes his parents are alive somewhere and Paige wants us to try and find them. Leo's talking to the Elders right now."

Phoebe paused. "Anyone else would be freaking out right now. For us this is normal." She headed for the dining room. "I'm just going to change out of these work clothes."

"Phoebe, wait," Prue said, following Phoebe out into the dinging room. "Can we talk?"

"Uh..."

"Please?"

Phoebe sighed and nodded. "Okay."

The two headed upstairs to Phoebe's room and sat on the bed, with several feet of space between them.

"So," Phoebe said. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You," Prue said.

"Me? What about me?"

"I just feel that you don't really want to talk to me," Prue said.

"What? How can you say that?"

"You bolted for work this morning, you made me leave your office, and you made an excuse just to not be in the room with me just now."

"I have to change out of these clothes," Phoebe said. "How is that an excuse?"

Prue eyed Phoebe's attire. "Pheebs, those are some of the most casual work clothes I have ever seen. I don't think you needed to change."

"I disagree," Phoebe said.

"Okay, fine. But I still think you have been avoiding me. Now come on. Tell me what the problem is."

Phoebe shook her head and looked away. "It's stupid."

"Nothing you can say would be stupid," Prue said. "Not now, anyway. When you were blonde..."

Phoebe gave a small laugh.

"Come on. Tell."

"I... I've been afraid to talk to you," Phoebe said slowly.

"Why?"

"Because I'm afraid you're mad at me and if I stay around too long then you'll let me have it."

"What?" Prue asked. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Because," Phoebe said, tears starting to sting her eyes. "It's my fault you died."

"Phoebe, that's insane," Prue said.

"No, it's not. I abandoned you and Piper to go chase after Cole. If I hadn't gone down into the Underworld then Leo wouldn't have had to come after me. He could have healed Piper when she was shot and we wouldn't have had to make that deal with the Source of All Evil." Phoebe paused. "Wait, you don't remember any of this."

"No, I do," Prue said. "When you're dead... all of your past memories are open to you, even if time was reversed. I was able to see everything."

"Then you should know it's my fault," Phoebe wheezed, tears streaming down her face. "All of it."

Prue pulled Phoebe over to her and held her, stroking her hair. "No, it's not," she said. "If anyone is to blame, it's me. I became reckless. I was the one who chased after Shax into the street. I messed up. But my mistake was needed. So that you and Piper could learn to be more careful. And that our secret needs to be kept. We debated over telling people before, but now you know that it's not a good idea."

"No," Phoebe said, laughing through her tears. "It's not."

"So are we clear?" Prue asked. "It's not your fault. I'm not, and never was, mad at you. Okay?"

Phoebe wiped some tears from her face and nodded. "Okay."

"Here," Prue said, handing Phoebe a tissue.

"Thanks," Phoebe said. She wiped her eyes and nose. "You know who's really at fault?"

"Hmm?"

"Evil."

"Oh, yeah," Prue said. "Evil sucks."

"Yeah."

The sisters laughed as Piper came into the room.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said. "But Leo's back."

The three headed down the stairs to where Leo was waiting in the living room.

"So," Prue said. "What did the Elders say?"

"They said to stay out of it," Leo said.

All the sisters frowned. "What?" Piper asked.

"Since it's not a magical problem they want you to stay out of it," Leo said. "Let the police deal with it."

There was a moment of silence.

"Screw that," Phoebe said.

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "We're not going to let Paige get hurt just because the Elders say so."

"I didn't think so," Leo said.

"So do you know of a way we can find them?" Prue asked.

"No," Leo said. "But I might know of a way to find out if they are really dead."

"How?" Piper asked.

"The Book of The Dead," Leo said.

"Sounds creepy," Phoebe muttered.

"What is it?" Prue asked.

"It's a book that lists the names of all the dead," Leo explained. "No matter what they are. Witch, human, demon, whatever. They're all in there."

"Okay," Piper said. "So how do we get it?"

"You have to summon the one who is its keeper," Leo said. "The Angel of Death."

"How do we summon him?" Phoebe asked.

Leo shrugged.

"Oh, I know!" Prue said, raising her hand like a kid in school. "I summoned him once before. When we were fighting the Seekers, remember?"

"Brain sucking demons who could float?" Piper said. "Who could forget?"

"Luckily I wrote the spell in the Book of Shadows," Prue said, leading the way. She suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Piper asked.

"It's just... I never thought I would be heading up to the attic to look in the Book ever again," Prue said.

"This is no time to get nostalgic," Phoebe said, pushing Prue from behind. "Paige is in trouble."

Less than five minutes later the three sisters, plus Leo, were gathered around the Book. The spell to summon the Angel of Death was on the page before them.

"Okay," Prue said. "Let's say it and summon him."

"Um, Prue?" Piper said. "You don't need to say it. You don't exactly have powers anymore."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Prue stepped back from her place in the center and Piper and Phoebe moved in.

"Spirits of air, land and sea, converge to set the Angel free. In the wind we send this rhyme, bring death before us before our time."

A cloud of the deepest black appeared out of nowhere and the Angel of Death stepped out of it.

"Why have you summoned me?" he asked.

Phoebe frowned. "Why is the Angel of Death british?"

Death sighed. "You summon me to ask foolish questions? I have things to do, you know."

"No, we have something valid," Piper said. "My sister is just crazy."

"We need to take a look at your book," Prue said.

A frown came over Death's face. "Wait a minute. Didn't I take you?"

"Yeah, you did."

"But we found a way around that," Piper said. "Now, really. We don't have much time. We need to find out if someone is really dead, so we need your book."

Death eyed Prue for a moment and then held out his hand. A book that was larger than the Book of Shadows appeared in his hand.

"Name?" Death asked.

"Mark and Jennifer Barker," Piper said.

"Baker," Prue said.

"Really?" Piper asked. "I thought Paige said Barker."

Death cleared his throat.

"Baker," Prue said.

The Book of The Dead floated in midair as Death waved his hand over it. The pages flipped wildly for several moments before coming to a stop. Death ran a finger down the page and shook his head. The book snapped shut and disappeared.

"They are not in my book," Death said.

"Which means they are dead," Phoebe said. "This is good."

"If you don't need me anymore, and I don't care if you do, I'll be going now," Death said.

"Wait," Piper said. "Do you know any way we could find them?"

"No," Death said, already disappearing the same way he had come.

"So now what?" Phoebe asked.

"We could scry for them," Piper said.

"With what?" Phoebe asked. "We would need something of their's."

"Maybe you could get a premonition," Prue said.

Phoebe sighed. "Again, with what? I would need something related to them to touch. And before you say it, I don't think I could be able to get one off the kid. He has a gun. I doubt he will let me lay a hand on him."

"The Elders?" Prue said.

"No," Leo and Piper said at the same time.

Piper glanced at Leo and continued. "We already know they won't help." She sighed. "We need more time."

"Which we don't have," Phoebe said. "That kid is probably getting really impatient and he has a gun. He might start shooting soon."

"Okay, we have to deal with him first," Piper said. "Then we'll do something about his parents."

"Okay," Prue said. "Let's get going."

Piper and Phoebe glanced at one another.

"Prue, honey, maybe you should stay here," Piper said.

"Why?" Prue asked.

"On the chance that you could be seen," Phoebe said.

Prue was about to protest, but gave up. "You're right. Okay, I'll stay here." Prue dropped onto the attic's old couch and watched as Leo orbed out with her sisters.

-x-

Paige, along with everyone else, watched as Kevin paced. It had been almost two hours since Kevin had talked to the police and since Paige had talked to her sisters.

She wondered what was taking so long. Her sisters had magic on their side. If it was taking this long, Kevin's parents must really be dead. She doesn't didn't know how they would prove it to him.

Paige sighed, staring at the gun in Kevin's hand. It would be so easy just to orb it away from him. But she knew she couldn't. That would expose her as a witch.

_Maybe when he passes by me again I can grab it_, Paige thought.

Kevin started to pass her and Paige was about to make a grab for the gun, but stopped when she saw it flicker. It might have a been a trick of the eye, but she could have sworn she saw the gun become see-through for a split-second.

The room suddenly froze and Piper, Phoebe, and Leo came out of the bathroom.

"Okay, we're here," Piper said. She suddenly stopped short. "Wait a minute. Why isn't he frozen?"

She was pointing at Kevin, who had his gun raised at Piper, his hands shaking.

"Who are you?" Kevin asked. "Get out of here! I'll shoot!"

"No you won't," Paige said calmly. "You actually can't."

"Paige, what are you saying?" Phoebe asked.

Paige ignored her. "You're a witch, aren't you, Kevin? That gun in your hand... just an illusion."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kevin said.

"Kevin, it's all right," Paige said. "Look at all the frozen people. We're witches too."

Kevin kept the gun raised for a moment, then finally lowered it. As he did the gun faded away.

"How did you know?" Kevin asked.

"I saw the gun flicker," Paige said. "I'm guessing keeping an illusion going that long was taking some power out of you."

Kevin nodded.

"So let me get this straight," Piper said. "We went through all that, worried you were going to start shooting people, but it was all an illusion?"

"It doesn't take away the meaning of it," Paige said. "He wants his parents back. Did you find out anything?"

Kevin frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"When I went to the bathroom I actually transported over to my house and asked my sisters to try and find your parents," Paige explained. "Thought it would be better than the police. So, what did you guys find out."

"Well," Phoebe said. "We found out that they aren't dead."

"I knew it!" Kevin yelled. "Do you know where they are?"

"No," Phoebe said. "I'm sorry."

Kevin's face fell.

"Maybe we can help," came a woman's voice.

A woman and a man suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Kevin's face lit up and he ran to them. The two adults wrapped him in a big hug, tears streaming down their faces.

"We're so sorry for leaving you," said Kevin's father, Mark.

"Where did you come from?" Piper asked.

"We can make ourselves invisible," said Jennifer, Kevin's mom.

"Why did you leave?" Kevin asked. "Why did you fake your deaths?"

"We didn't want to," Jennifer said. "But we had to."

"You only know a little about magic, son," Mark said. "I see you found out you had a power. Good to see you kept it a secret, too."

"But there is so much more to the magical world," Jennifer started to explain. "There are demons out there that are evil. And that's why we had to leave you. Demonic assassins have been chasing us for years and we had to go into hiding. So we left you to keep you safe."

"Safe," Kevin said. "But not happy."

"We saw you on the news and came right away," Mark said. "But we can't stay out in the open for long. The demons could be tracking us."

"Take me with you," Kevin said.

"It's too dangerous," said his mother.

"I'm old enough to hold my own," Kevin said. "And being with you while being chased by demons is ten times better than being safe, but without you."

The mother and father looked at one another and then nodded.

"What about all this?" Leo asked. "You can't just suddenly disappear."

Kevin thought for a moment and then waved his hand. A perfect illusion of himself appeared, gun and all.

"Once we're gone," Kevin said, "the illusion will run out the back and hide in the bushes I saw there before. Then it'll disappear without a trace."

"The police will look for you," Piper said.

Kevin took his mothers's hand. "They won't find me." He looked up at his mom and dad. "Right?"

Mark laughed. "If demons can't, the police don't have a chance."

"Now let's get going," Jennifer said.

"Thanks for your help," Kevin said to Paige. "Sorry about all this." Then he, along with his parents, faded away.

"We better get going too," Piper said. "The freeze doesn't last forever."

She and the other two went back to the bathroom. Paige saw Piper flick her hand and time started up again, the illusion of Kevin suddenly bolting for the back door.

"Guess he finally got spooked," someone said.

Paige just smiled.

-x-

As Paige closed the front door behind her, her three sisters came into the foyer from the dining room to meet her.

"You're back," Prue said.

Paige nodded. "Yep. Mr. Cowen let us all leave and even told us to take tomorrow off. So I get to spend all night talking to you and tomorrow as well."

Prue smiled. "We do have a lot to talk about."

"I'm going to take the day off too," Phoebe said, putting an arm around Prue's shoulders. "No more avoiding. I'm going to stick to you like glue. You won't be able to get rid of me."

"I'm thrilled," Prue laughed.

"The club can survive without me for a day," Piper said. "Count me in too."

"Okay," Prue said. "We know we all want to do it. Group hug."

The sisters laughed as they all came together and hugged. The chandelier above them began to shake and glow, spilling a shining blue light down over them.

"What's that?" Prue asked.

Before anything could be said a glowing ball of white light shot out from Paige's chest. It moved towards Prue, then back to Paige, then just shot upward and disappeared.

"What just happened?" Paige asked.

Once again, nothing could be said. Three demons, one of them being Zerek, shimmered into the living room.

"You," Piper whispered when she saw Zerek.

Zerek smiled and yelled, "Attack!"

The demon on the right threw a fireball at Piper. She blew it up, but the resulting blast sent her and Phoebe, who was closest, crashing back into the wall.

The demon on the left then conjured an energy ball and sent it flying at Paige.

"Energy ball!" Paige called, holding up her hand. She only had a moment to look confused when nothing happened before the energy ball hit her in the chest, knocking her to the floor.

The same demon conjured another energy ball and threw it at Prue, but she dived out of the way just in time.

Piper got back to her feet and shot out her hands, blowing up the demon on the right. She was about to do the same to the one on the left, but he and Zerek shimmered away.

"Damn," Piper hissed. She turned when she heard Phoebe crying. Her sister was kneeling next to Paige.

"She's dead," Phoebe said through her sobs.

"No, no, no," Piper breathed, tears now stinging her eyes. "This can't be happening. Leo!"

Leo orbed in, saw Paige on the floor, and immediately tried to heal her. Nothing happened. "I can't heal her," he said. "She's gone." He turned to the others and asked, "What happened?"

"We're not sure," Prue said. We were all hugging under the chandelier and then this blue light washed over us and then a white light came out of Paige."

"It looked like it was trying to decide between Paige and Prue," Phoebe said, wiping her eyes to try and stop the flow of tears.

"Then it disappeared," Piper said. "That's when the demons attacked. Paige got hit by an energy ball. Her power didn't work."

"I think I know what happened," Leo said, standing up. "The Power of Three was reconstituted when you and Phoebe met with Paige right here in this very spot. So when you were all here again, yet with a former Charmed One, the power of telekinesis didn't know which sister to go to. So it went in to limbo, for lack of a better term."

"Why?" Prue asked.

"It's called the Power of _Three_ for a reason," Leo said. "There can only be three Charmed Ones. Having four meet in this very spot confused the power."

"So this is my fault," Prue said.

"No, it's my fault," Piper said. "I was the one to bring you back."

"Who cares who's fault it is!" Phoebe yelled. "What do we do about it? We have to bring Paige back."

"We can't yet," Prue said. "We have to take care of that demon. He knows the Power of Three is down. He'll be back."

Piper shook his head. "I know that demon. He can't be vanquished without the Power of Three."

"Which we can have," Phoebe said. She got up and stepped back from Paige. She held out her hands. "Come on, hurry."

"Phoebe," Piper started.

"Just do it," Phoebe said.

Piper and Prue took Phoebe's hands. The chandelier once again started to shake and glow. The blue light washed over them and a white ball of light shot down and entered Prue.

"I feel it," Prue said. "I can feel my power inside of me."

"So," Phoebe said. "How about one last vanquish for the original Charmed Ones?"

"Then we get Paige back," Piper added.

Prue nodded. "Let's do it."

-x-

"You fool!"

Zerek was in his lair, reprimanding the remaining demon from the attack.

"You missed!" Zerek yelled. "The plan was perfect! Kill Paige and Prue and the Power of Three would be gone forever! But now they are still able to have it because you missed!"

"I'm sorry," the demon said, cringing.

"Sorry doesn't cut it," Zerek said. He pulled an athame from his robe and stabbed it into the demon vanquishing him.

"Well, that was nice of you," Piper said.

Zerek spun around to see the three remaining sisters and Leo.

Piper continued. "You took out him, so now we only have to vanquish one demon."

Zerek pulled back his arm and threw the athame at Piper.

She froze it and slapped it out of the air. "Freeze," she said.

Phoebe levitated and booted Zerek in the face, making him stumble back. "Kick."

Prue stepped forward a tilted her head, giving the demon a half-smile. "Send flying." She swung her arm and Zerek flew through the air, crashing into the wall and crumpling to the floor.

The sisters came together and Piper pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. Together they read, "Demon that can resurrect souls, you cannot resist this spell's pull. With the Power of Three we pave the way, to send you down to your permanent grave."

Zerek screamed as flames spread over his body and he exploded in a large burst of fire.

"That was kind of a hokey spell," Prue muttered.

"You take what you can get," Piper said. "Now let's get back to Paige."

-x-

Leo orbed back into the manor with the sisters, right next to Paige's body.

"Options?" Phoebe said.

"I could use that spell I used for Prue," Piper said.

"No!" Leo yelled. "No more dark magic."

Prue frowned. "Dark magic?"

"Never mind," Piper said. "Any other ideas?"

"Maybe the Elders can bring her back," Phoebe said. "Since it was a mistake and all."

"No," Leo said. "They don't have that kind of power."

"But I know who does," Prue said. Before her sisters could ask who, Prue began to recite a spell. "Spirits of air, land and sea, converge to set the Angel free. In the wind I send this rhyme, bring death before me before my time."

Once again the Angel of Death came from a cloud of the deepest black, an annoyed look on his face.

"You know," he said. "I bet I could find a way to block that spell."

"This is the last time," Prue said.

"Prue, what are you doing?" Piper asked.

Prue ignored her. Instead she said to Death, "I want you to bring Paige back and take me instead."

"Prue don't!" Phoebe said.

Death raised an eyebrow. "A trade? That's not the way it works."

"But it has to this time," Prue said. "I'm not supposed to be here. You know it, I know it. Paige is only dead because I was brought back. Please, you have to take me. Not her."

Death thought for a moment and then waved his hand, Paige's ghostly form appearing next to him.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"Your sister is making a trade," Death said. "Your life for her's."

"What?" Paige turned to Prue. "No, you can't. You have a life to live."

Prue shook her head. "I already lived mine."

"Are you sure about this?" Death asked. "I won't be doing anymore trading after this."

Prue nodded. "I'm sure." She looked at Piper and Phoebe who were both crying uncontrollably.

"I can't lose you again," Piper said through her tears.

"You'll never lose me," Prue said. "I'll always be with you." She turned back to Death. "I'm ready."

Death held up his hand and Prue dropped to the floor. Her spirit rose up from her body as Paige's went back into her own body.

Paige gasped for air and Piper and Phoebe helped her up. The sisters stood together and watched as Prue took Death's hand.

"Goodbye," she said, she and Death disappearing.

Piper collapsed next to Prue's body and sobbed. Leo stood watching while Paige and Phoebe knelt next to Piper and just held her.

-x-

Piper sat on her bed, holding Prue's leather jacket. Leo came in and sat down next to her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm never going to be okay with losing Prue," Piper said. "But I do understand that I shouldn't have messed with death. The consequences are just too great."

"What about dark magic?" Leo asked. "You ever going to use that again?"

"I thought about it. Dark magic can do things that good magic can't," Piper said. "But then I thought about our baby." She looked down and touched her stomach. "One dark spell isn't enough to corrupt me. I can fight it off. But can the same be said about our baby?"

Leo shook his head. "She would have no way to fight the dark magic. She could easily be corrupted."

Piper nodded. "Then to answer your question... no. Putting our baby in danger of becoming evil is not worth it. Even if I have good intentions."

Leo pulled Piper close and kissed her on the head. "I'm glad."

-x-

Phoebe smiled as she passed by Leo and Piper's room, glad that they were no longer mad at one another. She didn't know exactly what the fight had been about, but she had felt the tenseness in the air that day whenever the two of them were in the same room.

Phoebe entered her own bedroom and closed the door. She was happy for Piper and Leo, but it also made her sad; it made her think of Cole.

She went over to her dresser and picked up a photo of him.

"Where are you?" she whispered. Looking up she almost screamed as she saw Cole appear in the mirror. She spun around to see him standing next to the bed.

His clothes were torn and scratches covered his unshaven face. His hair was a mess and looked like it hadn't been washed in days. He looked like he hadn't slept in days either, for his eyes were bloodshot.

"Phoebe," he said. "I need your help."

_**End of Episode 5.6: Deadly Consequences **_


	7. Episode Seven: Sins of The Mother

_**Episode 5.07: Sins of The Mother**_

Piper frowned as she entered the dining room the morning after they had lost Prue once again. There were noises coming from the kitchen. She glanced at her watch; it was quite early. _Who would be up before me? _she thought.

Upon entering the kitchen, Piper found her sister Phoebe scrambling around, seemingly taking all the food there was and putting it onto a tray that sat on the table.

"Uh, Pheebs?" Piper said.

Phoebe jumped and spun around. "Oh, Piper. Hey."

Piper eyed her sister. She looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep at all. Nor had she changed from the day before.

"Something wrong?" Piper asked.

"No, nothing at all," Phoebe said. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, for starters, you're up early."

"I've gotten up early before," Phoebe retorted.

"True," Piper said with a nod. "But also..." She nodded at the tray of food.

Phoebe glanced at it. "I'm hungry."

"Uh... huh." Piper could tell her sister was lying. "Phoebe, unless you are gaining a bunch of weight for some movie role you have forgotten to tell me about... I think there's something wrong."

Phoebe took a deep breath and took her time letting it out. Finally she looked Piper in the eye and said, "Cole's back."

"Oh," was all Piper could say. She couldn't admit that she was happy about it. She never completely trusted Cole. He had a way of betraying them at the worst possible time. But Phoebe loved him and he made her happy, so what could Piper do?

"He got back last night," Phoebe continued. "He looks horrible."

"Worse than you?"

Phoebe gave a mock glare. "I look like this because I stayed up all night with him."

"Strange," Piper said. "I didn't hear you."

"Not like that!" Phoebe snapped. "He fell asleep right away and I stayed up all night watching him." She nodded at the food. "I wanted to make sure he had something to eat when he wakes up."

"So..." Piper started. "Does he still have his powers?"

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, he flared in."

Piper bit her lip. This wasn't looking good. "So he failed at getting rid of them..."

"I don't know," Phoebe said. "I haven't been able to talk to him yet. When he showed up he said he needed my help and then he collapsed. He looked so exhausted."

Piper continued to chew on her lip. Finally, she asked the question that she knew would make her sister angry. "Phoebe, what if he can't get rid of them? He'll be too dangerous to have around."

Phoebe's gaze hardened. "Forget that he saved your life?"

"No," Piper said. "But he saved my life before, all of our lives, and then went all evil. What if it happens again?"

"It won't."

"But--"

"Just let me talk to him," Phoebe said. "We don't know anything yet. Just... let me figure this out, okay?"

Piper nodded. "Okay. Go talk to him." Phoebe sighed and picked up the tray. As she walked past her sister, Piper snatched up a box of cereal. "Leave the corn flakes."

Phoebe rolled her eyes and continued walking.

-x-

Paige was awoken by the sound of her cell phone ringing. She reached to her bedside table to snatch it up, but found it to not be there. Groaning, she realized that she had left it on her dresser on the other side of the room.

"Okay, legs. I don't like you and you don't like me. But we have to get up and answer that phone." Paige looked down at her legs that were covered up by a cozy quilt. They weren't budging.

"Hmm," she mused. "You have an excellent point." She held out her hand and called for her cell phone, which appeared in her hand a moment later. She grinned and pushed the talk button. "Hello?"

"Paige, hey, it's Glen."

Paige's grin grew wider and she sat up. She hadn't heard from her high school sweetheart in months. After he had found out she was a witch he was a little hard to get a hold of. _Although_, Paige thought,_ he has always been like that_.

"Hey, Glen. How are you?"

"I'm good," Glen said. "What about you?"

"Eh," Paige said with a shrug. "I'm a little stiff from being dead, but other than that I'm fine."

"What?! Paige, you died?"

"Kidding, kidding," Paige said to calm him down.

Truth was, she wasn't kidding. She had died the night before, but there was no reason he needed to know that. Non-magical types had a tendency to freak out about that sort of stuff.

"So, what's up?" Paige asked quickly.

"Well," Glen started, "I'm in town and I'd love to be able to see you. We haven't hung out since..."

"Since I saved your life from a bunch of rat demons?" Paige filled in.

"Right," Glen said with a nervous laugh. "Anyway, we should hook up today. How about we meet at Bob's Donuts and Pastry?"

Paige smirked to herself. "You know, if you keep taking me there every time you're in town you're going to make me fat."

"Aw, you're cute when you're pudgy."

"I have never been pudgy!" Paige yelled with mock anger.

"Well, you were after that one summer at camp," Glen chuckled.

"It wasn't my fault they had the best cook in the world working for them," Paige said. "Besides, I worked it off before school started. Well... most of it, anyway."

"Okay, okay. So, meet me there in an hour?"

"Two hours," Paige countered. "You know how long it takes me to get ready."

"Fine," Glen said. "See you in two."

"See you then," Paige said. She hung up and just sat there for a moment, smiling. She was so happy he was back. Her smile then faded as a horrible thought came to her. _What am I going to wear?!_

-x-

"Knock, knock," Phoebe whispered, pushing her bedroom door open.

Cole sat on the bed putting his shoes on. He looked up at her and frowned. "It's your room, you don't have to knock."

"Yeah, well--" Phoebe paused, looking Cole over. "Your wounds are gone."

"One of the few perks of having all these powers," Cole said, getting to his feet. "Here, let me help you with that." He took the tray from her. "Uh... leave anything for anyone else?"

"Of course," Phoebe said. "I left some corn flakes."

Cole smiled and set the tray down on the bed. He then took Phoebe in his arms and kissed her. Phoebe melted in his embrace, the rest of the world fading away. But it all came flying back as Cole broke the kiss.

"I've missed you," he said.

"I've missed you too," Phoebe said, caressing Cole's cheek. "I don't want you to ever leave again."

"Well, I have to," Cole said with a sigh.

"But... not right now," Phoebe said, hoping it was true.

Cole stepped back. "I'm sorry, but I have to."

"What about last night? You asked for my help."

Cole shrugged. "I was delirious. I don't want you getting mixed up in this."

"Cole, you're the love of my life," Phoebe said. "I'm already mixed up in it. Now tell me what's going on."

Another sigh slipped from Cole's lips. "I found a way to get rid of my demonic powers," he began.

"Cole, that's great," Phoebe said. "How?"

"There is this group of powerful wizards, sorcerers, and other magical beings that believe they have the power to extract my powers and contain them."

Phoebe frowned. "Wizards? I thought they were extinct after..." She paused. "After I killed the last one."

Cole shook his head. "No, there are others that are well hidden. This group has hidden itself from most of the magical world. I had to do a lot of digging to find them."

"Okay, so they can extract your powers," Phoebe said, prodding Cole on. "So what's the problem?"

"We made a deal," Cole explained. "They will extract my powers only after I vanquish several demons that are their enemies. Which isn't that much of a problem. I know most of the demons they want me to vanquish and I definitely have the power to do so. The problem is that I have already vanquished half-a-dozen upper-level demons and they keep telling me to vanquish more."

"So you think they're just using you to get rid of their enemies?" Phoebe asked. "Maybe they don't even really have the power to help you."

"I don't know," Cole said, with another shake of his head. "All I can do right now is do what they want."

"So how can I help?"

"Well a few of the demons they want me to vanquish I don't know much about. If you could..."

"Look them up in the Book of Shadows?" Phoebe finished.

Cole nodded.

"Okay," Phoebe said, getting up. "I'll go get the Book." She put a hand against Cole's chest as he started to get up. "Nuh uh. You sit down and eat. I'll be right back." She gave him a quick kiss and left the room, bumping into Leo.

"Sorry," Leo said.

"It's okay. Is Piper still in the kitchen?"

Leo shook his head. "No, she left for P3."

Phoebe frowned. "Already? Why is she going in so early."

"I don't know," Leo said with a shrug. "She just said something about a big meeting with her staff."

"What about Paige?"

"Getting ready to go out for a breakfast date," Leo said. "She said that Glen is back in town."

"Damn," Phoebe hissed.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked.

"Cole's back," Phoebe said. "And he needs our help to get rid of his powers." She sighed. "Guess I'm going to have to do this without them," she said, heading for the stairs to the attic.

-x-

"Piper, what are we doing here?"

Piper looked up at Rex, the manager of P3. He, along with the rest of the staff, were sitting at tables around P3. Most of them looked cranky beyond belief and Piper's best waitress, Nancy, was half asleep.

"Okay, I know you're all a little angry at me for calling an emergency meeting," Piper said. "But this is important."

"Do we all need to be here?" Nancy asked, holding her head up with her hand. "I worked close last night and I'm _really_ tired."

"I get that you're all tired," Piper said. "But this will affect all of you."

"What will?" Rex asked.

"We're changing P3," Piper announced.

"Oh no." A look of horror came over another one of the waitresse's face. "This isn't going to be like last year when we changed the place to The Spot, is it? I don't want to jeopardize my job, but that wasn't your best business choice."

Piper shook her head. "No, nothing like that. I want to change P3 into a restaurant. Hold your questions," Piper said quickly, waving her hands. "It would be a restaurant during the day and a club at night."

"Where did this idea come from?" Rex asked.

Piper sighed and said, "Well, I haven't been very happy with my career for awhile now. I love this club, but it's just not what I've always wanted to do. I've always wanted to have my own restaurant and be a chef and I haven't done anything close to that since I worked at Quake." She looked around at the stunned faces of her employees. "We wouldn't have to change much. We've already got a kitchen; just have to add a few things to it. The biggest change would be hiring some more workers. Also, if some of you want to do waitressing during the restaurant hours, that would be great."

Silence followed.

"So... what do you all think?" Piper ask. "I really want to hear your opinions on the matter."

"I like the idea," Nancy spoke up. "Working nights here has really taken me away from my kid. Being able to work during the day would work out much better for me."

Piper nodded. "Yeah, really we'd just be doing breakfast and lunch. So you could work during then. After that we'd close for a few hours to get the place ready for the club scene."

"So I assume you'd be head chef of the restaurant and continue to be owner of the whole place?" Rex asked, Piper nodding in response. "Who would manage the place?"

"Well, I thought I would hire a daytime manager and leave you to take care of the club at night," Piper answered. "Unless you want to change to being the daytime manager."

Rex shook his head. "No, I'm good with sticking with the club."

"All right," Piper said. "So I haven't heard any objections. Which I assume means that you are all okay with this?"

Everyone nodded.

"Great," Piper said with a grin. "Okay, you can all go on home and I'll get started on this. I want to get this plan going as soon as possible."

-x-

Paige pulled up next to the bakery and got out of her car. She was dressed to impress, wanting to let Glen know that she was open to having a relationship again. She had felt so cut off from all her recent boyfriends, knowing she couldn't tell them her secret.

But Glen already knew and was okay with it. Maybe this time they could truly be together.

A bell jingled as she opened the door. Because the place was so small, she instantly spotted Glen sitting near the back. He saw her and waved. She waved back and walked over to him. Glen stood up as she approached and they exchanged quick kisses on the cheek before sitting down.

Paige glanced down at the table and saw a plate with a pastry on it sitting in front of her. "Aw, you ordered for me already. Glad you know what I like." She paused. "Wait, this isn't what I like. And it has a bite out of it already..."

"Sorry about that," came the perky voice of a woman behind Paige. "Had to run to the ladies room. Oh, you must be Paige!"

Paige slowly turned around to see a young blonde woman standing there. She had this perfect white smile plastered on her face and was holding out her had to Paige.

"Uh, yeah, I am," Paige said, not taking the offered hand. "And who are you?"

The woman's smile faded. "Glen didn't tell you about me?"

Paige glanced at Glen, who was sitting there, staring down at the table and twiddling his thumbs. "No, he didn't."

"Glen, honey? Why don't you introduce us?"

_Honey?_ Paige thought.

Glen gave a nervous cough. "Desiree, this is Paige. Paige, this is Desiree. My fiancé."

Paige's face paled. "Fiancé?" she repeated, not being able to believe it.

"That's me," Desiree said with a little wave. "Now, if you don't mind, could I have my seat back? My back and my feet are killing me. I swear, they don't tell you about all this pain before you get pregnant."

Only then did Paige notice the massive bulge that was this woman's stomach. The pigment of her skin went down another notch. She silently got up and looked around for another chair.

"Oh, sorry," Glen said. He jumped up and grabbed a chair from a vacant table next to them. Paige sat down, still not saying a word. "You okay?" Glen asked. "I mean, if it's possible, you look paler than usual."

"I'm fine," Paige said. She suddenly realized how rude she was being. So she put on a fake smile and said, "Wow, getting married and having a baby. You've been busy, Glen."

"I know it's all happening kind of fast," Glen said. "But it doesn't really matter when you are truly in love with someone." He smiled at Desiree and took her hand in his.

_I think I'm gonna be sick_, Paige thought, but kept her smile firmly on.

-x-

A green skinned demon cried out as he was hit by an energy ball, exploding in a fiery burst a moment later.

Cole spun and threw another energy ball, taking out the last of the demons guarding the lair of Beldaz, the second to last demon on Cole's list.

That demon now came out of the lair, a fireball hovering above his palm. "What is the meaning of this?" he bellowed. "Why are you attacking my lair?"

Cole shrugged. "It's nothing personal. Just business." He conjured an energy ball. "Time to close the deal."

"I don't think so," Beldaz growled, launching the fireball at Cole. The attack hit him in the shoulder, spinning Cole to the rocky ground.

"Okay, I think it's time for me to step in," Phoebe said, stepping out from behind a large boulder. Beldaz paused in confusion, allowing Phoebe the time to pull out a potion and throw it, vanquishing the demon.

"Thanks," Cole said, sitting up. "Glad you were here."

"Glad there was a vanquishing potion for him in the Book," Phoebe said, helping Cole to his feet. "And you didn't want to bring it."

"I could have taken him," Cole protested.

Phoebe ignored this. "How's your arm?"

"It's fine," Cole said. "Already healed."

"Yeah, creepy."

"Leo can heal you in seconds. Is that creepy too?"

"That's good magic," Phoebe said. "This is evil, creepy magic."

"Which is exactly why I am trying to get rid of my powers."

"I know. So let's go look up that last demon, shall we?"

-x-

"I think we should knock down this wall," Piper said, tapping a pencil against her chin.

"You sure?" Leo asked. He was dressed up in his handyman gear, tool belt and all. Piper had called him about an hour earlier and had asked him to come and help her to prepare for the renovation of the club.

"I think it will open up more space for tables," Piper said.

"You don't want to knock down that wall," Leo said.

"Why not?" Piper asked.

"There are supports in that wall. Knock it down and part of the roof will collapse."

"Oh." Piper bit her lip and glanced around. "Then we'll knock down that wall."

"Let's just hold off on knocking down walls for now, okay?"

"Fine," Piper grumbled, spinning on her heel. She had barely taken a step when Paige orbed in directly in front of her.

"She's a demon!" Paige yelled.

Piper frowned in confusion. "Who?"

"Glen's fiancé!"

"Glen is getting married?" Piper asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah," Paige said with a nod. "Not only that, but he's going to have a kid, too."

"Wow, that was fast," Piper said.

"Exactly what I thought," Paige said. "And she is very pregnant, like she could burst at any moment."

"Paige, please don't say it like that. I'm going to be having a baby, too, and I don't want to think of it like popping a cork out of a wine bottle."

"Whatever," Paige said, waving her hands dismissively. "My point is that I don't think Glen has known her long enough for her to be this pregnant. So my conclusion?"

"Oh, do tell."

"She's a demon and now her half demon baby is growing really fast."

"Uh... huh," Piper said. "And you don't think Glen would have noticed this?"

Paige shrugged. "He's never been the smartest wedge of cheese in the cheese factory."

"What?"

"I'm freaking out here, leave me alone!"

"Right, exactly. You're freaking out," Piper said with a nod. "I don't think you are thinking about this very clearly."

"Yes I am," Paige protested. "I know for a fact that it hasn't been nine months since I last saw Glen."

"Are you sure?"

Paige's shoulders sagged. "No."

"Piper's right," Leo said, having been listening to all of this while he worked. "You are obviously angry that he has found someone else when you were hoping you two could get back together."

"I wasn't hoping for that at all," Paige said.

Piper and Leo glanced at Paige's outfit.

"Really?" Piper asked.

"Okay, fine, maybe I was."

"It makes sense that you're angry," Leo said. "But jumping to the conclusion that she is a demon isn't a very good idea."

"I know that I may just be crazy and that I'm seeing demons that aren't there, but I need to know. Isn't there some spell or potion I can use to find out?"

Piper nodded. "There are a few."

"Great," Paige said. "Will you help me?"

"I can't," Piper said, gesturing at the club. "I have stuff to do."

"Let me worry about this stuff right now," Leo said. "Truthfully, right now you will only be in the way. Go help Paige."

"Fine," Piper groaned.

"Great, thanks, let's go!" Paige latched onto a reluctant Piper and orbed them away.

-x-

Phoebe ducked as the demon exploded, flaming bits of it flying everywhere. "Okay, that's the last one. Right?"

Cole heaved a sigh. "I sure hope so."

Phoebe took Cole's hand. "Let's go find out."

Phoebe's vision blurred as Cole flared the two of them out of the Underworld. When it cleared, she found they were in some sort of temple. Rock walls with flickering torches surrounded them; there seemed to be no exits. In the center of this room was a stone table with five robed people sitting at it, their faces hidden by hoods.

"I'm guessing they're the clan of wizards?" Phoebe asked.

"Officially, we're called the Order of Teraka," said the wizard in the center.

"How nice," Phoebe said. "Well, he did what you asked. Now will you get those powers out of him?"

"Phoebe," Cole whispered. "Let me handle this." He turned back to the seated wizards. "I took out the demons you asked me to."

"We know," the center wizard said. "Our oracles told us this."

"So do I get my reward?"

"Not yet."

"What?!" Phoebe balked. "You cannot keep doing this to him!"

"Phoebe, please," Cole said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"No, you did what they asked!" Phoebe yelled. "They are just stringing you along. You don't even know if they can actually do what they promised."

"We can and we will," said the center wizard. "One more demon is all we ask."

"Fine," Cole said. "Who is it?"

"Demora."

"No..." Cole whispered, taking a step backwards. "No. I won't."

"You must."

"No!" Cole grabbed Phoebe's arm and flared them out.

-x-

"Okay, I want a color that is warmer. Something that will make my customers feel comfortable." Piper nodded as the painter she had called gave some suggestions.

She and Paige sat in Piper's Jeep SUV, waiting for Desiree to show up at her apartment. Paige was glancing around constantly while Piper had put her seat into a more lounging position and was talking on her cell phone.

"No, not maroon," Piper said, scrunching her nose. "I'm thinking like a tannish... goldish... color. ... What do you mean I need to be more specific? Hello? ... Hello?" She snapped her phone shut and threw it in her purse. "He hung up on me."

"I would have done the same thing," Paige said quietly.

"Excuse me?"

Paige sighed. "Piper, I know I'm the crazy one today, but I'm going to take a break from that and give you some sane advice."

"Okay..."

"I think you are going about all this way too fast," Paige said. "Out of nowhere you decide to change the club into a restaurant."

"It'll still be a club," Piper interrupted. "But just at night."

"Okay, great. But where is this coming from?"

Piper shrugged, looking away. "Prue suggested it to me yesterday. I thought it was a good idea."

"Well, Prue was smart. It is a good idea. Opens up the place during the day, allowing there to be a larger cash flow. Also allows you to get back to your cooking roots--"

"So what's the problem?" Piper snapped.

"The problem is you are going about this way too fast. When I orbed in earlier you were talking about knocking down walls already."

"How would you know?" Piper asked. "You orbed in after I said that and started ranting about demons."

"We whitelighter types can hear snippets of things just before we orb in," Paige explained.

"Really? I didn't know that..."

"My point is that you need to be smart about this if you really want to do it," Paige continued. "Don't just start knocking down walls and don't have Leo be your contractor. He's good for fixing up things around the house, but for this kind of thing you need a professional."

"I know that," Piper grumbled.

"And you need a professional painter, too. Not 'Larry The Painter Guy', who you found in the phone book five minutes before we left."

"Okay, okay," Piper said. "I get your point. I guess having Prue around yesterday and then her being taken away again so quickly just reminded me that life is short. You never know when your time is up. So I wanted to do this as fast as I could."

"I understand," Paige said. "But Rome wasn't built in a day, you know."

"It would have been if I was in charge," Piper quipped.

Paige smiled and glanced out the window. "There she is!"

Piper looked at the woman entering the apartment building. "She's pretty." Paige gave her a smack on the arm. "Sorry."

"Got the potion?" Paige asked.

"Yeah, right here," Piper said, pulling it out of her purse and handing it to her sister.

"And you're sure this will work?"

"It should," Piper said. "Prue made it for Phoebe when we suspected a detective might be a demon. All we have to do is slip it into her coffee. If she's a demon, it will constrict her throat and cause her to choke."

"Piper?"

"Hmm?"

"She's pregnant. She doesn't drink coffee!"

"Right. Well, maybe it will work with herbal tea."

"It better," Paige said, getting out of the car.

-x-

"Cole, talk to me!" Phoebe yelled, following Cole into the attic. Cole hadn't said a word since they had gotten back and seemed to be having an inner battle with himself. "Tell me who that demon is."

Cole shook his head. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"It doesn't concern you!" Cole snapped.

"You concern me," Phoebe said. "And this deals with you, so it concerns me. Now who is Demora? You obviously know her."

"She's just someone from my past," Cole said. "Someone I can't kill."

"She's a demon, isn't she? Like all the others you just killed."

"This is different," Cole said, turning away.

"How?" Phoebe asked.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me!" Phoebe yelled. Cole said nothing. "Cole, this demon is the only thing standing in the way of you getting rid of your powers. The only thing standing in the way of us truly being together. Are you just going to throw that all away?"

"I... I don't know," Cole whispered.

"Cole--"

"I have to go," Cole said suddenly. "I have to get out of here. Get some air."

"Cole, wait." But he was already gone. Phoebe sighed. "Fine. If you won't tell me, I'll find out who this demon is on my own."

She went over to the Book of Shadows and started paging through it. After several minutes of looking she found who she was looking for.

"Demora," Phoebe read out loud. "An upper-level demon, respected by much of the Underworld. She is known for mating with mortals to create demons with a natural human form, so that they may integrate themselves into the human world and work for evil above ground. Some of the greatest demons to come from her include Hexor, Valmara, Shendra, and... Belthazor." Phoebe's face paled as she looked up from the Book. "Oh my god... She's his mother."

-x-

"I have to tell you, Paige, I'm surprised you're here." Desiree sat down on a chair in the living room of her apartment, Paige and Piper taking the couch. "You seemed... not very happy earlier today."

"Oh, that?" Paige shook her head. "I was just surprised. It came as quite a shock, Glen suddenly getting married and having a kid. You know, I don't think I ever pictured him as being a dad. He seems a little too..."

"Adventurous?" Desiree said. She smiled as Paige nodded. "Yeah, I really love that about him. I know it doesn't seem like a good thing for a dad to be the type that goes off to Australia or something at a moments notice. But our family will be different. We'll travel around the world, having fun. Our kid will see more countries in his first ten years than most people see in their entire lives."

"Oh, so you're having a boy?" Piper asked.

"Yeah," Desiree said with a smile and a nod.

"I'm having a girl," Piper said.

"Oh, I didn't even know you were pregnant," Desiree said, glancing at Piper's belly. "How far along are you?"

"A few months."

Desiree frowned. "It usually takes twenty weeks to know the gender of the baby. Sometimes sixteen. So... isn't it a little early for you to know?"

Piper glanced at Paige. She couldn't exactly tell Desiree that she had gone to the future and seen that she had a daughter. "Uh, well, I have a feeling," she said with a weak smile.

"I see." Desiree suddenly got up. "Sorry. Artificial nature calls. Being calling every twenty minutes. I should sue for harassment."

"Artificial...?" Paige said, confusion etched on her face.

"Bathroom," Desiree explained. As she turned and headed for the bathroom, she muttered, "Don't know why nobody gets that joke..."

After Desiree had gone, Piper looked at Paige. "She seems really nice, Paige."

"A little _too_ nice," Paige said.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Why do we do this? Why do we think that everyone in our lives is a demon or some other magical creature?"

"Because it's usually true," Paige said. "Too many boyfriends have turned out to be demons for us to not think like this."

"Maybe your boyfriends," Piper said. "_I_ ended up with an angel."

"Ended up with, yes. But Phoebe told me you used to date a warlock," Paige said with a snide smile.

"Oh, shush," Piper said.

A moment later, Desiree came back.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "I forgot to offer you something to drink. Did you want tea?"

"Tea sounds great," Piper said.

"Great. Because it's all I've got." She turned to go to the kitchen, but Paige stopped her.

"No, I'll do it," she said, jumping up. "You're pregnant and should be sitting down."

"Are you sure?" Desiree asked. "I mean, you two are my guests."

"I'd be happy to do it," Paige said. She walked past Desiree towards the kitchen, sending a knowing glance back at Piper.

A few minutes later, Paige came back with the tea, setting a cup each in front of Desiree and Piper, keeping her own in her hands. "Bottoms up," she said with a small laugh.

Both she and Piper watched intently as Desiree picked up her cup of tea. But before she could take a sip...

"Uh oh," Desiree said.

"What is it?" Piper asked.

"My water just broke... AH!" She screamed out in pain, dropping her cup. It crashed on the floor, breaking and sending a flood of hot tea across the hard wood.

"Oh, she's having contractions," Piper said, getting to her feet.

"We have to get you to the hospital," Paige said.

Desiree shook her head, wincing in pain. "There's no time. This baby is coming NOW."

-x-

Leo walked into the kitchen to find Phoebe hard at work making a potion. He frowned and said, "So is Paige's demon actually a demon?"

Phoebe looked up from the smoking pot that sat on the stove. "What are you talking about?"

"This isn't about Paige thinking Glen's fiancé is a demon?"

Phoebe's eyes widened. "Glen has a fiancé?"

"Oh. Guess not," Leo said. "So what is this about?"

Phoebe took a deep breath. "Cole's mother."

"What?"

"Cole found some people who can extract his powers. But the deal was that he vanquishes some demons that are their enemies first. The last demon they want taken out is a demon called Demora. I looked her up in the Book of Shadows. She's Cole's mother."

"So where's Cole?" Leo asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "I don't know. He ran off before I found out who the demon was."

"Think he went to vanquish her?"

"No," Phoebe said, shaking her head once again. "He refused to do it when once he heard who the demon was. And can you blame him? She's his mother."

"Not exactly," Leo said. "She raised his demon half, not his human half."

"It doesn't matter," Phoebe said. "Whether she raised his human half or not, she is still his mother. And how can any sane person kill their mother?"

"So you're going to do it for him?" Leo asked, gesturing at the potion.

Phoebe took a turkey baster, extracting some of the potion from the pot and putting it into a waiting vial. "Cole needs this," she said, capping the vial. "There may not be another way to get rid of his powers. So I'm doing what has to be done. For us."

Leo nodded. "How are you going to find her?"

Phoebe moved over to the table where the Book of Shadows sat open. "I'm going to reword and reverse the spell to summon Belthazor."

"Makes sense," Leo said. "What about the potion? I assume she's an upper-level demon, so won't you need some of her flesh to make it work?"

"Still had some Belthazor flesh left over," Phoebe said. "Since she's his mother, I'm hoping it will work on her too." She was about to read the spell, but paused. "If Cole comes back... don't tell him where I am."

"But..."

"I don't want him to try and stop me," Phoebe said sternly. "Just don't tell him, okay?"

Leo sighed. "Okay."

"Thanks." Phoebe turned back to the Book. "Magic forces black and white, reaching out through space and light. Be she near or be she far, bring me to Belthazor's mother."

"Not your best work," Leo said.

Phoebe was about to give a scathing retort, but was suddenly swept up in a swirl of white lights. For several moments, all she could see was a blindingly bright light. The light finally faded and she found herself in a small apartment, greeted by the sounds of a woman screaming.

Phoebe spun around to see an extremely pregnant woman laying on the couch, obviously in labor. And next to her? Piper and Paige.

"Oh my god," Phoebe said.

Piper looked up. "Phoebe? What are you doing here?"

"I cast a spell to bring me to Cole's mother," Phoebe said.

"Cole's mother?" Paige repeated. She slowly turned to look at Desiree. "Which means..."

Desiree's eyes suddenly flared red and Paige and Piper were sent flying back, Piper landing on a chair and Paige slamming into the wall and dropping to the floor.

Phoebe took the potion from her jacket pocket, but before she could throw it the door swung open and Glen came in. He was obviously confused as he took in the scene before him. "What's going on here?"

"She's a demon!" Paige yelled, getting up from the floor. "Phoebe, throw the potion!"

"No!" Glen yelled, knocking the potion from Phoebe's hand. It fell to the floor and broke, spilling its contents. Glen then ran to Desiree and knelt beside her.

"Glen, don't let them her me," Desiree pleaded, gasping for breath. "Don't let them hurt our baby."

"Don't worry," Glen said. "I won't." He turned to Paige, his eyes filled with anger. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Glen, she's--"

"Not everyone's a demon, Paige!" Glen yelled, cutting her off.

Desiree suddenly screamed again and, moments later, another scream joined hers; this one the scream of a baby. Glen turned, and when he turned back he had a baby in his arms. Snatching a pair of scissors up from the coffee table, he cut the umbilical cord. Then he took a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped the baby up in it.

"Glen," Desiree whispered. "Give the baby to me." Glen did so and Desiree smiled. "Thanks. Now I don't need you anymore." Her eyes flared red again and Glen was knocked back, landing a few feet away from the sisters.

"Desiree... What is this?" Glen asked, as Paige helped him up.

"My name isn't really Desiree," said the new mother, getting to her feet. "It's Demora."

"Cole's mother," Phoebe whispered.

Demora cast her gaze on Phoebe. "More specifically, Belthazor's mother. But that's right. ... Who are you?"

"She's the love of my life," Cole said, suddenly appearing.

"Belthazor," Demora said, looking at Cole with adorning eyes. "I thought you were dead."

"He is," Cole said.

"What?"

Cole conjured an energy ball.

Demora's eyes now took on a look of fear. "What are you doing?"

"Vanquishing you," Cole said simply.

"But you can't," Demora said, shaking her head. "I'm your mother!"

"No," Cole said. "You're not." He threw the energy ball and it hit her in the chest, vaporizing her. As Demora's body disintegrated, the baby dropped towards the floor. Piper instinctively shot out her hands, freezing the child in midair.

"Cole," Phoebe said, going over to him. "How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't. I was looking for Demora and sensed her here."

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked.

Cole nodded. "I just had to realize that she was Belthazor's mother. She was never mine."

"Okay, time to vanquish the other demon," Paige said. "I think I can orb that potion off the floor..."

"No!" Glen yelled. He ran past Paige and over to the baby, taking it in his arms and out of its freeze.

"Glen, the baby is a demon," Paige said sternly. "We have to vanquish it."

"He's my son," Glen shot back. "I don't care if he's a demon."

"But--" Paige started.

"No," Glen said. "I won't let you hurt him. I'll kill you if you try."

Paige opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She looked at her sisters for help, but they could offer none. What could they say to get a father to allow the vanquish of his son?

-x-

Leo and Piper sat together at a table in the club, watching as people danced to the the blaring music on the dance floor.

"So what color are you thinking of painting this place?" Leo asked.

"Tannish goldish," Piper said.

"How specific," Leo said with a laugh. He then got serious. "Piper I want to talk to you about this idea. I think it's a good one, but I think you are going about it too fast."

Piper nodded. "I know. Paige already gave me the speech. Don't worry. I'm going to slow down and have professionals do all the painting and the contracting." She paused. "No offense, honey."

"None taken."

Piper looked up towards the stairs that led into the club. "Speak of the devil," she said. Paige was coming down the stairs. Piper waved to her and Paige came over, side stepping around dancers to avoid being trampled.

"Hey," Paige said, taking a seat.

"Hey," Piper said. "... How's Glen?"

"He's... very stubborn," Paige said. "I tried to explain to him how dangerous it will be to have a demon child around the house. Especially when his daddy has no magical powers to protect himself. But he wouldn't listen to me. He believes that he can raise his kid to be a good person, demon or no."

"I kind of understand where he's coming from," Leo said. "I don't think I could let anyone kill our baby once she is born. Even if she turned out to be evil."

"Hey, don't jinx it," Piper whined, giving Leo a light smack on the arm. "And she won't be. She's got a good witch and an angel for parents. I think she's good to go."

"I just hope Glen can handle it," Paige continued. "He's kind of mad at me right now, but I let him know that I will be there if he needs me."

"That's very nice of you," Piper said. "Especially since you were right about Desiree." She paused. "Well, Demora, actually."

"I didn't really want to be right," Paige said. "I think Glen really loved her."

"He'll be okay."

Paige nodded, then looked around. "So where's Phoebe?"

"She's with Cole," Piper said. "The Order of Teraka, or whatever Phoebe called them, should be extracting Cole's powers..." She looked at her watch. "Right about now."

"Hope it works," Paige said.

"We're all hoping it works," Piper said.

-x-

Cole screamed out in pain, clawing at his chest. The Order of Teraka stood in a circle around him, hands raised to the stone ceiling of their temple. They chanted unintelligible words that echoed around the room. Phoebe stood off to the side, hands clasped together, praying that this would work.

A dark, smokey essence suddenly exploded from Cole's chest and flew up into the air. It hung there for several moments, writhing and moving in all directions, like it didn't know where to go. Finally it shot across the room and down to the stone table, entering a glass sphere that sat upon it. There it stayed, still writhing, but unable to escape the sphere.

"It is done," the leader of the Order said, dropping his hands to his sides. He went and picked up the sphere. "Your powers were so great that this was the only option. This sphere will contain them, but they must never be let out." He handed the sphere to Cole. "It will be up to you to protect it."

Cole glanced at Phoebe. "I think I'll be able to handle it with the Charmed Ones on my side."

Phoebe smiled and walked over to Cole, embracing him. "You bet."

"So," Cole said. "You think our lives will become really dull now?"

"Oh, I doubt it," Phoebe said, kissing Cole. After a moment she broke the kiss and looked around, frowning. "Uh... Cole?"

"Yeah?"

"There are no doors in this place. How do we get out of here now that you don't have your powers anymore?"

The two glanced around, then looked up to the ceiling, simultaneously calling out, "LEO!!!"

_**End of Episode 5.07: Sins of The Mother**_


End file.
